


A Hope And A Prayer

by tachiequillsluv



Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Angst, Boy Love, BoyxBoy, Drama, Gay, Leukemia, M/M, Medical, Mpreg, Multi, New York City, Romance, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:46:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25418674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tachiequillsluv/pseuds/tachiequillsluv
Summary: Naruto and Sasuke's marriage is on the rocks and Naruto is not sure if he can fix it. With the idea of letting Sasuke have a better life, he makes the decision to leave. Only a miracle can save what they have.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka, Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama/Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

There's a terrible thing that happens to those who fall in love fast and hard. Something that I was afraid that was happening to me right now. I, Uzumaki Naruto, no wait, Uchiha Naruto now, was afraid that my husband of five years, Uchiha Sasuke, was falling out of love with me.  
I took a glance over at him from the passenger side of his black Mercedes. His expression was mildly annoyed as he stared straight ahead and continued driving towards his parents mansion on Long Island that was about an hours trip from our Manhattan penthouse. I let out a small sigh as I looked back out the window.  
It was the Uchiha’s annual Thanksgiving dinner that they throw every year. It involved both the Uchiha family and the Uzumaki family reuniting for the holidays. My father, Minato, and Sasuke's father, Fugaku, worked together at the hospital, both of them surgeons. My mother, Kushina, and his mother, Mikoto, were professional chefs. Mikoto had her own gourmet restaurant while my mother worked as her sous chef. Our parents got along but kept their relationship mostly professional. The Uchiha’s aren't big fans of me and the Uzumaki’s think I could do better than Sasuke.  
There were also our older brother’s who married each other. Itachi and Kyuubi. Itachi took more after Fugaku in looks but could be as sweet as Mikoto while Sasuke was just the opposite with his soft features from her and cold and distant personality from him. Kyuubi looked and acted just like our mom, a fiery and loud personality who liked to take charge, while I looked like my dad and mostly took after his silly and laid-back personality.  
I was also excited to be seeing my older brother. He announced in May, at both the family’s memorial weekend, that he was four months pregnant with their first child. He gave birth in the beginning of November and I was excited to see my niece for the first time. I felt a smile cross my face.  
Itachi and Kyuubi met in medical school together and have been in a relationship for the whole duration of their time there. After the six years together, they didn't get married till three years after that. Which was two years after me and Sasuke got married.  
Sasuke and I met in our first year of college together, which was about seven years ago when we were both eighteen. He was going to become a doctor and at first I was too. But after a year I dropped out. My family was disappointed in me, I wanted to pursue writing whether or not they approved and yet Sasuke backed me up, one hundred percent. He didn't mind that I only had part-time jobs that last about a year at most or that I never did write and saw it through. He just wanted to see me happy. And that's what I wanted for him.  
But after a year of marriage and us deciding that we should try to have a baby, was when things slowly started to decline between us.  
The doctor's told us that my uterus was oddly shaped, resembling more of T than a pear, telling us that any chance of becoming pregnant was close to nil.  
I remember going home that night and crying in bed for at least a week. Sasuke changed his practice from Neuro to Pediatrics almost immediately.  
I was happy to see him suddenly become excited to go to work, coming home and telling me stories of the children there. It was also devastating when he would come home either frustrated or just break down and cry when he lost a patient.  
Slowly, he spent more time at the hospital and less at home, leaving earlier in the morning before I woke and not coming home until I was already asleep. It hurt me to say the least. I started to believe that Sasuke didn't want to see me anymore and I couldn't blame him, I was holding him back from starting his family.  
When he heard the announcement last May of his brother having a child, I saw the heartbreak in his eyes as he smiled and congratulated him and my brother. I saw the jealousy, pain, anger and the tiredness. Since then, he hasn't been the same.  
Mornings together were robotic. He says the usual good morning but now there's no emotion. The kiss on the cheek I receive from him was now more out of habit and I swear if I held a picture up of my face, he wouldn't know the difference. The conversations are one-sided and the dates that we would try to go on at least once a week are now being preoccupied with his work. Sex with him was like having sex with a wall and for the past three months, it hasn't happened at all. I'm losing the one good thing in my life because of the cards given to me from birth. I've tried to do things differently but there's only so much one person can do.  
I wiped a tear from my eye and sniffled. I didn't want to start crying with him so close, I wouldn't even know what to say. I've apologized for this so many times, he now gets angry if I even bring it up.  
I looked at the dashboard as Sasuke turned the heat on. I gave a sad smile at him trying to be considerate, thinking I was cold. I looked over at him and reached out to put a hand on his leg.  
He flinched at the incoming touch and I quickly withdrew my hand before making contact. I looked back out the window and tucked my hand underneath my leg. Even my touch disgusts him.  
Through the window I could see we were almost there. The familiar street of the neighborhood passed by. I soon started to fidget. This would be the first time we would be going to a family gathering, will he act like everything's okay? I don’t even think I can imagine him trying to act like it is.  
We pulled into their driveway and he parked the car. I could already see that everyone else was here and I gulped audibly.  
“ Ready to go in?” I asked him, but he was halfway out the door. Instead of coming to my side and opening the door, which he use to do before all this, he headed straight to the front door.  
I watched on in disbelief and was half tempted to climb into the driver’s seat and drive away, to who knows where. But anywhere, anywhere would be better than this.  
Swallowing all the courage I could, I got out of the car and went to the backseat where a present for the baby was. I quickly grabbed it and hurried after Sasuke's retreating form.  
“Naruto!” My mother was the first one to open the door and wrapped me in a hug. “Sasuke came in by himself and I was afraid you decided to stay home this year.”  
I gave a chuckle and held out the present. “I wouldn't miss this for the world. We were halfway to the door when I realized I forgot it, so I told him to go on ahead. Isn’t that right, Sasuke?” I looked over at him as he was about to leave after taking off his boots and coat and I prayed he would act normal. Anything to prove that this marriage wasn't in complete shambles.  
“Hn.” He left the room and the hopeful look fell from my face and I bit my lip to keep it from quivering.  
My mother turned to me, a frown on her face. “Is everything alright?”  
‘No! Nothing’s all right!’ I wanted to scream. ‘My husband hates me so much, he can't even pretend that anything is okay!’ I gave her a smile as best as I could. “O-of course! He, uh, he recently lost a patient. He just had high hopes. He's been down about it ever since.”  
She placed a hand over her heart. “Aw, that's so sad to hear. Hopefully the new baby will cheer him up.”  
I nodded my head. “I want to see her.”  
My mother smiled brightly. “Right this way!”  
She brought me up the stairs and down the hallway, past Sasuke's and Itachi’s old room, and into a guest bedroom that they converted into a temporary nursery.  
Everyone was already in the room, cooing at Kyuubi and and the baby who were sitting in a rocking chair, Itachi standing behind them. Sasuke was standing next to his brother and I could just barely see the smile that graced his face.  
My heart wrenched at the sight. I never realized how much I missed seeing him smile.  
“Naruto!” Kyuubi looked happy to see me, and everyone but Sasuke turned to look at me too, greeting me. “Come here! Meet Kairi!”  
I gave a slight nod as the room made way for me. I stood on Kyuubi’s side, across from Sasuke, who decided to move closer to his parents. I frowned a little but quickly smiled down at my niece. “Hi there, Kairi. It's nice to meet you. Uncle Naruto will spoil you rotten so you can give your parents a hard time.” I smirked up at Kyuubi and Itachi as the room laughed.  
Kyuubi rolled his eyes and looked up at Itachi. They shared a knowing look before Kyuubi faced me again. “Would you like to hold her?”  
I nodded enthusiastically and moved out of the way so Kyuubi could stand. I sat down in the chair. Kyuubi placed her in my arms and I got a better look at her. She was pale, almost like her father with a full head of his black hair. She looked up at me and I could see the bright green eyes of my mother and Kyuubi’s eyes. I gently rubbed a thumb over her cheek and she cooed happily at me. I smiled brightly and looked up. “Look, Sas-” My smile once again faltered as I saw the heartbreak in Sasuke's eyes and watched as he left the room. I turned to Kyuubi. “She’s so soft and cuddly. I think I'll keep her.”  
The room laughed and I reluctantly gave her back to Itachi who placed her in the crib. The room emptied out, leaving only me and Kyuubi. Kyuubi sat on the bed while I stayed seated in the chair.  
“What's going on?” He asked.  
I looked down at my lap, not wanting to look him in the eye. “I don’t know what you're talking about.” I practically whispered.  
“Don’t go acting dumb on me, I'm your brother.”  
“Who said I'm acting.” I quickly retorted, giving him a glare.  
He shrugged. “If it was anything else, I'd probably agree. But this is about Sasuke.”  
I was silent, debating whether or not to tell him the truth. I shook my head and looked at him, giving him a small smile. “He just recently lost a patient. He had-”  
“Cut the bullshit, Naruto.” I looked up at him, in shock, to find him glaring at me. “I'm a doctor too. I know that Sasuke knows better than to get caught up in a patient's life like that. It may work on mom but it won't work on me and dad. Besides, I'm your older brother. It's impossible to lie to me.” He gave me a smile and I tried to smile back, but I just sighed tiredly and looked back down at my lap.  
“He hates me, Kyuu.”  
“Naru, he doesn't hate you. He l-”  
“No!” I quickly interrupted him. I couldn't stop the tears that were starting to fall. “Don’t you dare say he loves me!” Kairi let out a whimper and I realized I was shouting. “If he loved me, he wouldn't be ignoring me. We haven't had a proper conversation in months. He hasn't looked at me, or touched me in months. And he's never home anymore. He resents me. He resents me for not being able to have kids.” I started to sob loudly.  
“Naru, that's not true.” Kyuubi frowned at me and patted the bed, indicating for me to come over. I slowly got up and sat down on the bed before resting my head in Kyuubi’s lap. “He knew for a while that you couldn't have kids, but the last time we saw him, he-oh.” Realization hit him and I laughed bitterly.  
“I think I'm going to stay with Uncle Iruka and Uncle Kakashi until I figure it out.”  
“Do you want a divorce?” Kyuubi looked down at me and I looked up at him. I saw the concern in his face and gave him a sad smile. I started to pick at the lint on his pants.  
“No. I don't. But if Sasuke does, I'll do it for him. I just want him to be happy and I know he always wanted a family.” The tears started to fall from my eyes again and I sat up before I could get Kyuubi’s pants wet. “I just want him to be happy.”  
Kyuubi pulled me to his side and started petting my hair. “What about your happiness, Naruto?”  
We sat there in silence until there was a light knock on the door. “Come in.” Kyuubi called out.  
The door opened and Itachi came in. “Dinner’s ready.” He leaned against the door frame and looked at the two of us.  
Kyuubi nodded and stood up, holding out his hand for me to take.  
I looked at it, then to Itachi. I didn't want to go down there and try to pretend that everything was okay. I didn't want to hear Sasuke being able to have a conversation with everyone but me. So, I shook my head. “I'm not hungry, I think I'll just stay up here. If mom gets fussy, tell her I promise to help with the dishes when dinner is finished.”  
Kyuubi nodded once and walked over to Itachi who wrapped his arm around his waist, pulling him close.  
“Oh, wait!” I quickly called out before it was too late. They both stopped to look at me. “Would it be okay if I held Kairi some more?”  
Itachi chuckled. “Of course, I have no problem with that.”  
“Feel better Naru.” They left, leaving the door open.  
I stood up and walked over to Kairi’s crib, looking down at her. She was awake, but just barely. I picked her up and started to cradle her in my arms. “You’re so lucky, Kairi. You have such nice parents who love you very much, and who love each other very much.” I lightly brushed some of her hair away from her face. I could feel the tears starting to fall from my face. “You’re so beautiful, Kairi. I can't have my own children, you see. And now, I'm afraid that your Uncle Sasuke doesn't love me anymore because of it. He really loves children, I know he wants a big family of his own. I'm just holding him back from having all that.” I shook my head as more tears started to fall. “But I don't want that Kairi. I'm selfish and want to keep him for myself, but I'm afraid if I keep him, he'll resent me more. If I let him go now, maybe things will be better between us once he moves on with someone who can give him children. Seeing him like this, is tearing me up inside.”  
There was a click and I turned to see the door closed. I quickly wiped my eyes as best as I could with Kairi in my arms. Kyuubi probably just checked up on me, seeing me crying, he probably closed the door to give me my privacy.  
“I guess I should call Iruka to see if I can stay over for a bit.” I set Kairi back in her crib and laid on the bed, pulling out my cellphone.  
“Hello?” Iruka picked up after the third ring.  
“Hi, Iruka. Its Naruto.”  
“Naruto, hi! Happy Thanksgiving! What's up? How's dinner?”  
I frowned into the phone.”Actually, not so good. Which is why I called to be honest.” I paused. “Is it okay if I stayed over for a couple days? Just to clear my head.” Iruka and Kakashi lived only two blocks from our own apartment so it shouldn't be too bad.  
“What's going on, Naruto? Are you okay?” His voice was filled with worry and I instantly felt bad about worrying him today instead of calling in the morning. “No one's hurt, right?”  
“No, no. Nobody's hurt. I just, I don’t want to go home tonight. I promise I'll tell you tomorrow morning. I probably won't be done for another hour or two and then it'll be an hour drive back and then I just gotta pack. I should be there before 10.”  
“Alright Naruto, I'll see you tonight.” He hung up the phone and I patiently waited for my mom to call me down to help her out.  
I didn't realize I fell asleep until I was being shaken awake by Mikoto. “Oh, hey Mikoto.”  
She was holding Kairi in her arm and she gently smiled down at me. “Your mom is down stairs doing dishes and everyone else is watching some game. I hope you're feeling better after resting.”  
I yawned and nodded my head. “Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better.”  
“That's good to hear. I'm sending Sasuke home with some leftovers so you'll be able to have some. Make sure he doesn't eat them all.” She gave me a wink as I smiled at her and left the room.  
I went downstairs. Everyone was gathered around the giant TV, beers in their hands. My eyes locked onto Sasuke's who was staring at me. My breath hitched and I quickly hurried into the kitchen.  
My mom was hunched over the sink and I snuck up next to her, holding a towel. “I'll dry.”  
“I'm a little annoyed with you right now, Naruto.” She gave me a frown and shook her head. “I already know that Fugaku has some issues with you, and now he thinks you're rude too. Why didn't you come eat with us?”  
I let out a sigh. Deciding that admitting my marriage was falling apart once tonight was enough. “I'm just not feeling too good. I don’t think I would've been able to hold it down.”  
My mother let out a gasp. “Naru, what if you’re pregnant!”  
I groaned. “No, mother. Don’t get your hopes up. You know it’s impossible for me to get pregnant and besides, we haven’t had sex in over three months.” I didn’t realize I said that last part out loud until I held out my hand for the next plate and didn’t receive it. I looked over to see her frowning at me and instantly, I cupped my hand over my mouth.  
“You haven’t been having sex? Is everything okay?”  
“Mom, please.” I didn’t want to bring this up. Not now, I don’t want to admit to my parents that our marriage was failing. My dad would’ve laughed in Sasuke’s face and his father probably would smirk at mine. “I don’t want to talk about it!” I started to shout, not caring if I would get lectured for it later.  
“But Naruto-” My mother was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. We both looked over our shoulders to see Sasuke. Shock must’ve shown on both our faces because he looked away, seemingly nervous.  
“Excuse me Kushina, but I would like to take Naruto home now, seeing as he hasn’t been feeling well.” His eyes locked on to mine and I felt the urge to run away. “If that’s okay with you, Naruto.”  
I nodded dumbly and placed the towel onto the counter. I walked towards him and was about to walk straight past him when his hand was a top my shoulder. It took almost all my willpower to not flinch and push his hand off. The contact practically burned.  
“Don’t forget to say goodbye.” He said, turning me back towards my mom.  
“Uh, uh, bye, mom. I’ll see you later.” I nervously waved at her and she waved back.  
He guided me back into the living room and I saw that Mikoto brought down Kairi who was now in Itachi’s arms. “Thank you for dinner, but me and Naruto are going to go since he’s not feeling too well.”  
Everyone said their goodbyes and we walked out to his car. Before getting in, I saw the leftovers that Mikoto gave us and smiled. It was enough to feed us for the rest of the week. The rest of the ride was silent and the only thing I was thinking about was what to pack to Iruka’s. When we reached Manhattan, I was surprised by the little amount of traffic that was there. I expected there to be more, due to it being Black Friday now that it was nine.  
We pulled into the parking garage of our building and parked. Sasuke took out the leftovers and we walked into our building and headed towards the elevators.  
“Naruto.” Sasuke spoke my name just as the elevator doors closed, and I jumped at the sound. “Can we talk, I h-”  
I quickly cut him off, I didn’t want to talk. I needed to get to Iruka’s to clear my head. I already knew the topic of this conversation and wasn’t ready to talk about our inevitable breakup just yet. “I hope you don't mind putting away the leftovers, I still feel pretty sick and am going to head to bed.” As soon as the elevator doors opened, I rushed into our apartment and headed to our bedroom, closing the door behind me.  
I decided to pack just the necessities and come back when Sasuke has work the day after tomorrow. I placed my bag at the end of the dresser and was about to get into bed and sneak out while he was taking a shower. But I noticed the wedding band on my finger. I bit my lip and took it off, placing it on the dresser. I knew after spending time at Iruka’s, Sasuke will bring up divorce and I'd be mentally prepared for it. Taking off my ring was just the first step.  
My hand felt naked and light without the ring on and the thought of not wearing it again was already making me cry. I curled up on the bed and silently cried, hoping that Sasuke would be quick to get in the shower. I noticed the time and sent a quick text to Iruka saying I may be late but not to wait up since I had a spare key.  
I heard the bedroom door open and then the light turned on. He was courteous enough to dim the light almost immediately, even though I wasn't really asleep. I heard him go into the linen closet to grab a towel and then he headed to the dresser, probably to change his boxers. I heard a drawer open and then a metal clink before the drawer was slammed, hard.  
I furrowed my brows and resisted the urge to look up at him. But suddenly I was quickly shoved, almost completely off the bed. I turned to look at him, a mix of surprise and anger. “What the hell, bastard?!”  
His eyes were narrowed in a glare as he studied me carefully. “What the fuck do you think you're doing?”  
“Trying to sleep, asshole.” I turned so I wasn't facing him, unsure of what exactly was happening. My heart was being fast and I was afraid that this fight was going to be physical.  
I received another shove and this time, I did fall from the bed. I landed on the floor with a thud, my arm hitting the ground hard. The pain shot through up into my shoulder and I hissed. Half of me wanted to get up and kick his ass while the other half, the half that I listened to, wanted to just stay on the ground and accept whatever was coming to me.  
“Get up.” Sasuke was above me in a second. I stayed put, refusing to move. What was this sudden anger that he had? Was he really this mad over the Thanksgiving dinner? “Naruto!”  
“What?” I mumbled into the hardwood floor. I should’ve left as soon as I could.  
“Get. Up. We need. To talk.” He was persistent and I slowly lifted myself up, sitting on the bed. He stood in front of me glaring down at me.  
I let out a bitter laugh. “I already know what this is about. And honestly, I don’t want to talk about it right now.”  
He laughed sarcastically and ran a hand through his hair. “Oh, oh I’m sorry! You don’t want to talk about how you’re going to leave me? You’re just going to up and leave?”  
I looked at him in disbelief. “What are you talking about?”  
He started to pace in front of me. “Don’t play dumb with me, Naruto. I can clearly see the packed bag by the dresser.”  
I turned to look then faced him again. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked over towards the door. “I was just going to go over Iruka’s for a couple days to clear my head.”  
He made his way over to the dresser and picked something up off it it, making his way back towards me. “So clearing your head means you have to leave your ring behind, does it? Is that it? What do you plan on doing without it, fuck some other guy, huh?”  
I looked up at him and glared. There was no way I was going to take this. After the hell he’s put me through, all the pain and neglect, he wants to accuse me of the one thing I could never do to him. I threw out all hope that divorce was going to be a clean one. “Do not even go there, Sasuke. I would never cheat on you no matter what kind of hell you put me through. I took that ring off because I know in my heart, if I don’t do it now, I wouldn’t be able too when you asked for a divorce.”  
He looked at me with confusion, some of the anger that was there before seemed to vanish. “Divorce? Why would I divorce you?”  
I laughed out loud at his ignorance. “Oh my god.” I started to laugh harder and I wasn’t sure when the laughter turned to crying but by the time I could speak, tears were falling down my cheeks and I was sobbing. “Are you really this ignorant, Sasuke? I know you resent me for not being able to have kids, I’m just giving you an opportunity to let me leave so you can be with someone who can.”  
“Naruto, I don’t resent you.”  
“You don’t resent me?!” I screamed at him. I stood up and got in his face, he was a few inches taller than me and I wanted to kick him so I could tower above him. “How can you say such blatant lies! There’s no way in hell that you don’t resent me! Have you not been here for the last four years of our marriage?!”  
He looked away from me and I saw guilt flash across his eyes. I took a step back from him and scoffed, shaking my head. I couldn't do this right now, I needed to leave.  
“I'm not going to stop you from pursuing your dreams, Sasuke. I'll leave with no trouble. Just send the divorce papers to Iruka’s whenever and I'll pick up my stuff while you're at work. I'm too tired to argue right now.” I pushed past him and grabbed my bag off the floor. I didn't have any urge to cry for once, maybe finally saying it out loud makes it a little bit easier.  
Before I reached the door, I felt Sasuke's hand on my shoulder and unlike at his parents house, this time I pushed it off. I turned to face him and was surprised to see desperation in his eyes. “Naruto, this isn’t what I want. I want to be with you. I don't want a divorce.”  
‘I don't either!’ I wanted to shout at him. I wanted to run into his arms and stay there forever. But how do I know if he'll still want this tomorrow? What if we go to bed fine and in the morning, he'll just ignore me like he has been for the last few months? “You say that now, but from the way you've been acting, it sure doesn’t seem like it. I want to be with you too, Sasuke.” He looked at me and hope filled his eyes but I quickly shook my head. “But if it means living like we have the past five months, I need to let you go. Besides, you've always talked about your own family, ever since I've known you. I'm stopping you and I can't be that person, Sasuke.”  
“I heard the conversation you had with Kairi.” Sasuke looked to the ground and whispered to himself. “I never realized how much I hurt you, Naruto.” I watched him carefully, so he probably was the person who closed the door. He looked back up at me. “But I married you for a reason, Naruto. We both know if I was going to get married just to have kids, I could’ve picked anyone. But I chose you.” He came closer to me and gently grasped my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “I could’ve had some supermodel but instead, I chose a loud, obnoxious, idiot like you.”  
I glared at him and was about to protest, when he placed his lips upon mine. My eyes widened in surprise. I missed the feel of his soft lips on mine. I closed my eyes and kissed him back softly. Before things got heated, he pulled away and I stared at him with half-lidded eyes.  
“And that's exactly what I want. I fell in love with you, Naruto. Only you can make me feel the way I do. Because of you, I smile and laugh more often. You bring the best out of me.”  
I looked away from him. “That may be true, but when you married me, you didn't know that I couldn't have kids. Once you did, you distanced yourself from me. And I made the effort to fix things but there was no effort from you. Then, when Itachi and Kyuubi announced they were having a baby, there was nothing. You couldn't look at me, you couldn't talk to me, you left before I woke up and didn't come home until you knew I'd be asleep.”  
“I know I can't change what I've done, Naruto. As much as I want too, I want to go back in time and kick my ass for treating you the way I did and not the way you deserve to be treated. I was hurting but I was only thinking of my pain. And I was jealous of Itachi and Kyuubi and unfortunately, you had to suffer from my selfishness. All I can do, Naruto, is beg for your forgiveness.” He gently pushed me onto the bed and climbed on top of me. He kissed my lips and then moved his way to my ear and then kissed me down my neck.  
I moaned at his kisses and ran my fingers through his hair. “I-I do. I forgive you.”  
Sasuke sat up and smiled at me. “Good. Now let's consummate this agreement.” He smirked down at me with a predatory gaze and I knew I'd be sore for the next few days.

*Christmas Eve*  
I woke up Christmas eve morning in one of the many guest rooms of the Uchiha mansion. Sasuke was still asleep, an arm thrown off the bed with the other under his head. I smiled brightly and quickly got up and ran to my personal bag. I snuck out of the room and in front the room where Kyuubi and Itachi were staying.  
I knocked lightly on the door and Kyuubi answered it almost immediately. “You ready?” I whispered, bouncing on the toes of my feet. He nodded and quickly shut the door behind him.  
We walked into one of the large bathrooms and made sure no one was around before locking the door. I quickly set my bag on the counter, rummaging through it.  
“Oh my god, I'm so excited!” Kyuubi started to giggle.  
I quickly shushed him, a smile on my face that I couldn't stop. I finally found what I was looking for, a pregnancy test.  
Ever since Sasuke and I kind of made up, sex has been a bit more regular. Soon enough, I started getting sick constantly. I hid it most of the time from Sasuke since he tried to get in as many hours as he could before the holiday trip back to the Uchiha mansion.  
I soon had my suspicions of being pregnant. Though doctors have told me it was near impossible, I still had hope. I confronted my brother on the phone and he agreed that it was a good idea to take a test.  
The plan was, if I was pregnant, to announce it Christmas morning. If I wasn’t, it'd be a little disappointing but no harm, no foul.  
“Is it ready yet?” Kyuubi asked, trying to take the stick out of my hand just as I finished peeing.  
“Stop it! It takes three minutes!” I moved the stick so it was out of his reach and set a timer on my phone.  
The three minutes were spent in agonizing silence. I sat on the toilet, looking up at the ceiling and praying to any deity out there of a positive outcome. Kyuubi was pacing in front of the tub, occasionally giving me glances.  
When the timer went off, the two of us both jumped and we ran to each other.  
“Ready?” I asked him nervously, he nodded and I picked up the stick off the counter.  
Positive.  
The two of us started screaming, holding each other's hands and bouncing around the room. I couldn't believe it! I was pregnant, I was really pregnant!  
There was a knock on the door and I quickly threw the test into my bag. Kyuubi waited patiently until I was sure it was tucked away. He opened the door to reveal a very distressed Itachi and Sasuke standing behind him, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “What's wrong? We heard screaming.” Itachi looked back and forth between the two of us.  
We smiled at each other. “Nothing, babe. We were just really excited about the present that Naruto got for Sasuke.”  
I saw Sasuke raise an eyebrow at the sound of his name, but it seemed like he was trying to master the art of sleeping while standing. I focused my attention back onto Itachi and nodded enthusiastically. “We just got carried away! We were just so excited, we didn't mean too-” I wasn't able to finish my sentence as a wave of nausea hit. My eyes widened and I quickly covered my hand over my mouth and turned to run to the toilet, emptying my stomach.  
“Apparently you got a little too excited.” I gave them all a thumbs up sign as I continued to vomit. “I’m going to check on Kairi, but you sure everything's okay?”  
Kyuubi nodded and pushed Itachi away from the door. “Yes, yes we're fine! Go, go.”  
I rinsed out my mouth of the horrid taste and made my way to the door, the bag in my hand. Me and Kyuubi started to laugh as Itachi backed up into Sasuke who was leaning against the wall, asleep.  
“Is he for real?” Itachi gave him an incredulous look before shaking his head.  
I placed my arm around Sasuke’s waist and guided him back to the bedroom. I placed my bag down near the closet door and tucked Sasuke into bed. Before I could pull away and climb into my side of the bed, Sasuke quickly pulled me down on top of him. “What’d you get me?” He mumbled into my hair.  
“It's a surprise, Sasuke.” I sighed and wrapped my arms around him as best as I could.  
“I'll tell you what I got you.” I felt his fingers run lightly down my spine and I shivered. “Pretty please, Naruto?”  
I shook my head and smiled up at him. “Nope. Not gonna tell, you'll just have to wait and see!” I pulled the blankets up and over the two of us and he let out a small groan. “Trust me, you'll love this surprise!”  
Christmas morning, I woke up about ten minutes earlier than everyone was supposed to. In my hand was a small gift bag that contained the pregnancy test and some tissue paper. I went down into the livingroom, where the tree stood. There were plenty of presents underneath the tree and I quickly hid mine as far behind the tree as I could.  
I stepped away from the tree to see my dad sitting on the couch, watching me with a smile. “Placing a last minute present, eh Naruto?”  
I smiled brightly at him. “Yep!” I walked over and sat next to him, leaning into his side.  
“Your mom told me at Thanksgiving that you and Sasuke haven't been having sex, is everything okay?” He looked down at me with concern and I groaned, covering my face with my hand.  
“Her and her big mouth!”  
“Hey, don't talk about your mom like that. I happen to like her big mouth!”  
I stared up at him in horror while he smirked down at me. “Dad! No!”  
He laughed loudly and ruffled my hair. “But seriously, Naruto, I can rough him up for you, keep him in check. Make sure he's treating you right.”  
“We’ll both do that for you.” I looked up to see my mom enter the room and she made her way over to the couch, sitting down next to me.  
“Thanks guys, I appreciate it. But I think me and Sasuke are going to be okay.”  
Mikoto and Fugaku came in next, taking the couch next to us. Itachi and Kyuubi followed close behind, Kairi in Kyuubi’s arms. She was passed over to my mom who was squealing to hold her. The two took the loveseat that was on the other side of my parents.  
It was about five minutes later before Sasuke came into the room, still looking like he was half asleep.  
I gave him a playful pout. “Sasuke, you’re always the last one here. Now we gotta sit on the floor!”  
“This year I was looking for you!” He quickly replied.  
“Oh Sasuke, you were always like this!” Mikoto replied, giggling.  
Fugaku smirked at him. “For school you could always get up just fine, but as soon as it's a holiday, it's like waking the dead.”  
The room laughed as Sasuke grumbled, sitting close to the tree. I quickly got up from between my parents and sat next to Sasuke.  
Soon everyone had a gift in hand and we began to open them. Wrapping paper littered the floor and people's gifts were surrounding them. I gasped in shock as I opened Sasuke's present, a new tablet along with a leather bound journal were packed inside.  
“There’s also a special surprise under the cover too.” Sasuke smirked at me and placed a kiss atop my forehead. “I like giving you surprises too.”  
I blushed lightly as everyone was watching, Sasuke's present to me being one of the last ones. I took out the journal and opened it. There were two tickets inside. I picked them up and read the destination. “Hawaii!” I got up, practically screaming. “You’re taking me to Hawaii!?”  
Sasuke laughed and nodded as I threw myself on top of him. Kissing him long and hard.  
“Okay guys,” Kyuubi said, laughing. He smiled widely when the two of us pulled apart. “Is that all the presents?”  
“I think so.” Itachi said.  
“No wait, I think I saw one more.” I quickly got up and pulled the small gift bag from behind the tree. “Its for Sasuke.”  
Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he took it and read the tag. He rolled his eyes. “Naruto, if it's another coupon book for that ramen shop, I swear I'm burning it this year.”  
The room laughed and my smile just got wider. “You'll just have to wait and see.”  
Sasuke stuck his hand in, still talking about how ramen was the un-healthiest thing in the world, when he stopped talking as he pulled the test out.  
I looked over at Kyuubi, my smile getting wider as well as his own.  
“Well, what is it, Sasuke?” Mikoto asked as Sasuke stayed silent, eyes wide.  
He looked up at me, shock, surprise, hopefulness, joy, so many emotions running through his face. “Naruto, is it, is this true?”  
I nodded my head and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kyuubi get up and quickly take Kairi out of my mom's hands and sitting back down. I giggled to myself, it was probably better even if she was pouting about it.  
Sasuke looked down at the test once again, hand covering his mouth.  
“Don’t leave us hanging, Sasuke, what is it?” Itachi asked, he shook his head.  
Sasuke slowly stood up and when his hand dropped from his mouth, he was smiling and I could see the tears that were starting to fall down his face. I was quickly there by his side, wrapping my arms around his waist. “I'm going to be a father.”  
My mother was the first to get over her shock as she stood up, squealing and running over to me. “Oh my god, Naruto! I'm so happy for you! I can't believe this!” She pulled me away from Sasuke and started to rub my belly. “Hi little one!”  
I swatted my mom away, giving her a small glare. “I'm only about four weeks, mom. You don't need to do all that.”  
My mom smiled brightly. “Nonsense! It's never too early to let a baby know they're loved!”  
“Congratulations you two!” Mikoto smiled at us. “When did you find out?”  
“Yesterday morning.” I smiled brightly at her.  
“So that's what you two were screaming about.” Itachi commented.  
I nodded at him then turned to Mikoto. “I've been having morning sickness for that past two weeks so I was thinking, maybe this was it.”  
“You never told me this.” Sasuke looked down at me with concern.  
“I didn’t want to get your hopes up. Besides, you were working extra hours at the hospital, I didn’t want you to fret over me too.”  
There was a loud sniffle and we turned to look at my dad who seemed to be crying.  
“Dad? What's wrong?” Kyuubi asked, worried.  
My dad once again sniffled before looking at me, tears running down his face. “My little Naru is growing up!” He sobbed loudly and I snorted at him, receiving a glare from my mother.  
“There, there, Minato, they all have to grow up sometime.” Fugaku tried to comfort my father by patting his arm, causing him to cry louder.

*8 Months Later*  
I looked out the window of my parent's summer house in the Hamptons. My mom and Mikoto were sitting at the glass table, two glasses of lemonade in front of them while a pitcher and some empty cups were set on the opposite side.  
Fugaku and my father were talking over the grill, the smell of cooking meat was wafting in through the open window.  
Itachi and Sasuke were having some sort of competition in the in-ground pool and I giggled as Itachi tried to hold Sasuke down in the water.  
Kyuubi was sitting on the first step of the pool’s built in stairs, Kairi was splashing in the water next to him, laughing loudly. She was so big now that she was nine months old.  
I took a step back from washing my hands after cutting up the watermelon. I looked down at my belly, which was quite large, and rubbed it gently. I still had a couple weeks to go but I feel like I'm ready to pop.  
We found out that we were having twins around my eighth week of pregnancy. The news just made Sasuke even happier. He came to my every beck and call, going above and beyond for me which during the first trimester, made me cry a lot.  
At our penthouse, we converted my studio that I used for writing into a nursery since it was bigger than the guest bedroom we had. Iruka came over with presents for the nursery almost every week, causing him and Sasuke to bond over, while me and Kakashi would roll our eyes.  
I smiled at all the memories I've had since me and Sasuke finally rekindled the flame in our marriage.  
After Christmas, he called into work and took another week off so we could fly to Hawaii while I still had the okay from the doctor. There we had a nice vacation where it seemed the mistakes of the past four years drifted away.  
I grabbed the tray of watermelon and headed out onto the deck.  
“Naruto, you’re such a doll, thank you!” Mikoto said as I placed the tray of watermelon in front of her.  
I smiled brightly at her. “It's no trouble at all!”  
“The steaks are done, boys!” My father called out to everyone in the pool. We watched as Kyuubi carried Kairi over to us, drying her off while Itach and Sasuke were once again fighting to see who got out of the pool first. Itachi would've won if it weren't for Sasuke who grabbed his leg and pulled him back into the pool, using the advantage to quickly run out onto the deck.  
“You boys are always so violent.” Mikoto frowned at Sasuke as Itachi came grumbling up to the deck. “You’re going to end up breaking each other's neck.”  
Sasuke rolled his eyes. “You always say that, mom.” He looked over at me with a smirk and grabbed my hand, giving it a light kiss.  
“Oh shoot, I forgot to grab plates.” Fugaku frowned as he had a steak clamped in the pair of tongs.  
“Don’t worry, I'll grab them!” I quickly sprung up from my seat, well as best as I could, before waddling back into the kitchen.  
I walked over to where my parents kept the plates and opened the cabinet. Just as I started to reach for them, a sharp pain hit me in the bottom of my belly. I hissed loudly before rubbing the spot, waiting for the feeling to pass. I blinked and looked down, nervously laughing to myself.  
I waited a few more minutes before trying to reach for another one. I successfully grabbed one and placed it on the counter, confident it was a one time thing.  
As I reached for a third plate, the pain came back, this time it hurt more, and I gasped loudly, putting my hand back under my belly and I groaned a bit. After another minute, it went away and I leaned against the counter.  
My dad stuck his head into the doorway and gave me a concernes look. “Everything okay in here?”  
I nodded and gave him a weak smile. “Yeah, just a little winded is all. Who knew?” I laughed a little and my dad smiled.  
“Need any help?”  
If you want you can take the plates I already got.” I held the short stack out and he came in and took them. I grunted loudly as the pain hit me once again. I bent down and held onto my knees, breathing heavily.  
“Hey, are you okay?” My dad started to rub my back.  
“Yeah, one of them just kicked really hard.” I tried to laugh but it came out more as a gasps. “Just give me a sec and I'll grab the rest and be right out.”  
He nodded and headed out to the deck.  
Once the pain passed, I went to grab five more and I started to head out to the deck.  
I smiled at Sasuke as he turned to see me step out of the house. Just as he stood up to take the plates from me, the pain once again hit me, this time it was stronger and I fell to my knees, dropping the plates in the process.  
“Naruto!” Sasuke was quickly by my side and everyone else started to gather around me.  
I gasped loudly and tried to hold back from crying. I grabbed on to his arm, holding it tightly. “It really hurts, Sasuke.”  
“Bring him to our car.” Itachi said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll bring him to the hospital.”  
Sasuke nodded and carefully he picked me up bridal style with very little effort.  
I laughed a little through the pain as he started to walk towards Itachi’s car, and he looked down at me. “I never realized you were this strong.” I closed my eyes as the pain started to subside, and fell into unconsciousness.  
When I woke up, I was lying in a hospital bed. I turned to my side and through blurry eyes I saw Sasuke.  
I vaguely remember arriving at the hospital and finding out I was in labor. I sat up quickly and hissed as I felt pain in my lower abdomen. I looked down and saw my giant belly was almost back to how it was before I was pregnant.  
“Hey there, you ready to meet your children?” I looked up and saw Itachi standing next to me. “Sasuke has Tama and Kushina has Suki.”  
I smiled at the names that me and Sasuke decided on. “Yeah, I wanna see them.”  
My mom came over first and I nearly cried in joy at the sight of her, she was almost an exact replica of Sasuke. The only difference was she had my blue eyes. She looked up at me and she seemed to recognize me and gave me a small smile. “Hi Suki.”  
Sasuke then came over with Tama. He seemed to be wriggling a lot and I giggled as Sasuke gave me a nervous smile. “I'm pretty sure he's going to be hyper like you. He's only two hours old and has more energy then me. He even looks like you too.”  
I laughed and looked over at Tama. As soon as he saw me, he started to coo loudly and wriggles even more in Sasuke's arms. He did look more like me then Sasuke, but had his dark colored eyes. “I'll hold him for you.” Sasuke placed him in my arms and he seemed to settle down almost immediately.  
“Figures.” Sasuke said with a roll of his eyes.  
My mom passed Suki to Sasuke and she held onto Itachi’s arm. “We'll give you two some time alone.” The two of them left, giving us some time alone.  
“They’re beautiful, Sasuke.” I whispered, looking them both over.  
“All thanks to you.” Sasuke gave me a kiss on the forehead and I scooted over so he could lie down with me. “I love you, Naruto.”  
“I love you too, Sasuke.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Come on guys, let's go!” I called out from the living room of our penthouse. I was carrying the twins’ suitcases as well as my own.   
Tama was the first to appear from the hallway, smiling up at me. He grabbed onto my leg, out of breath and panting. “I'm ready Papa!”  
I ruffled Tama’s blonde hair and waited patiently for his sister and Sasuke.  
Suki slowly walked in, her silky black hair tied up in a side ponytail. She sat down next to Tama, who was now sitting on my foot. “I can hold my bag for you, Papa.” She outstretched her arms.  
“That’s very sweet of you.” I gave her her bag, and was soon feeling a tug on my pants. I looked down to see Tama frowning at me.  
“I can carry my bag too, Papa!” He held out his hands and smiled when I gave him the bag.  
“Where's Daddy?” I asked when we were still waiting after five minutes.  
“He went into the baby's room.” Suki answered.  
I frowned. “Wait here.” I walked down the hallway, past the twins’ room, and into the room that was across the way from our own bedroom.  
Sasuke was standing in front of the crib, looking down at the child that was never there. A sad smile crossed his face.  
It's been almost six years since the twins were born and I became pregnant twice after that, once two years after the twins and once the beginning of last year. Both ended up in miscarriages.  
Kyuubi got pregnant three years after Kairi and had a beautiful baby boy, Ryou, and I could tell Sasuke wanted to go back to how he was before the twins happened, but I refused to allow our marriage suffer once again.  
Now, Kyuubi announced he was pregnant with their third child just three months before in August, their due date planning to be in May. Luckily, Sasuke didn't have the urge to become withdrawn, but there were times when I caught him lingering in the nursery, looking into the crib or even sitting in the rocking chair, always with the same sad smile.   
I walked up behind him and snaked my arms around his waist. “Sasuke.” I whispered his name.  
He leaned into me and I felt his hands hold onto my arms. “I'm sorry.”  
I shook my head and buried my face into his back. “Don’t be.”  
We sat in a comfortable silence until Tama walked into the room. “Papa, I don’t want to carry this anymore!” He held up his bag.  
We both laughed and I gently took the bag out of his hand as Sasuke picked him up.  
The drive to the Uchiha Manor went by quick, and soon I was helping the twins with their bags and bringing them into the house.   
My mom greeted the twins happily, taking the bags from me and leading them into the bedroom that they were going to share with their cousins.  
Sasuke and I headed into the living room, everyone but my mom and the twins were in the room. “Hey everyone!” I greeted excitedly as Sasuke took a seat in one of the lounge chairs and pulled me onto his lap.  
“Hey boys, how was the beginning of the school year?” My dad asked as took a sip of his beer.  
“Well, you know Suki, she’s like her father over here, impassive as ever. But she's doing well and she made a friend. And Tama was excited to go, for about a week. He's doing good too and he wants to join soccer with his friends for next year.”  
“That's great!” Fugaku smiled at us. “Finally we get to attend sports games, Itachi and Sasuke were never into sports.”  
“Yes but they were smart, unlike my two boys.” I glared at my mom as she walked into the room, carrying Ryou in her arms. Kairi, Tama and Suki following close behind.  
“Hey, I resent that!” Kyuubi protested, standing up. “I am smart, I just don't like to flaunt it.” He took Ryou from my mom and sat back down next to Itachi.  
“Are you kids gonna wake up early with me and grandpa to see the parade tomorrow?” Mikoto smiled at the kids who were huddled on the floor in front of the tv.  
Tama quickly stood up and threw his arms into the air. “Yeah! I wanna see the, Marcy’s Day parade!” He quickly ran to Mikoto, flopping into her lap, coughing a little.  
“Its Macy's, sweetie.” She said, laughing a little. “Are you getting sick?”  
“He's had that cough for a bit now.” I turned to look at Sasuke, a frown marring his face. “If it doesn't get better over the weekend, we'll have to take him to his physician.”  
“I don’t wanna go to the doctor, daddy!” Tame whined.  
“We'll see how you're doing, Monday, okay baby?” I cooed at him. I could feel the look Sasuke was giving me and I turned my head to stick my tongue out at him, I couldn't help it, I had a bad habit of spoiling our kids. They were just so cute. “How's second grade going for you, Kairi?”  
Kairi looked up from the tv, her face resembled Itachi the most but she had Kyuubi’s bright red hair that was pulled up into a side ponytail. “It's really good, Uncle Naru! I really like it, and I have so many friends!”  
I gave a quick glare to Kyuubi for teaching her the nickname, only to see him smirking at me. I turned back to her and smiled. “That’s good to hear!”  
“So, what are we gonna enjoy for dinner tonight, guys!” My dad asked, standing up and beginning to walk out of the room.  
“Pizza!” The kids all yelled, beginning to follow him. As they were leaving, Tama started to cough once again.  
I looked over at Sasuke. He was staring at where they all disappeared too, a concerned look on his face.   
After dinner and putting the kids to sleep, Sasuke and I went into our own room in the house. We lied down on the bed, Sasuke on his back and me resting my head on top of his chest.  
“I’m worried about Tama.” Sasuke said in a quiet voice, I felt his arm lift and soon felt the relaxing touch of his finger running through my hair. I closed my eyes and sighed deeply.  
“Me too.” I whispered. Tama has been coughing and tiring early for almost a month now, brushing it off as a cold, we decided to hold off on the doctor’s. “Before we left, I made an appointment for Monday, anyways.” I felt his fingers stop and I quickly opened my eyes and sat up, looking at him to see his eyes wide in surprise. “What?” I narrowed my eyes in suspicion.  
“I’m just surprised you actually made the appointment. Especially since you told Tama he may not have to see the doctor.” He sat up on his elbows and I fell onto his stomach with a gasp.  
“Bastard.” I mumbled into his clothes. “I can be responsible sometimes.” I sat up on my knees and pouted as he smirked at me.  
“Of course, idiot.” Before I knew what happened, I was pulled on top of him where he kissed me, and not too gently. I kissed him back and soon found our positions switched. “Sasuke?”  
“I want you, now.” He breathed into my ear. I closed my eyes as a shiver ran down my spine and when I opened my eyes, half-lidded, Sasuke’s were filled with lust.  
Instead of giving him an answer, I captured his lips in a passionate kiss. “Then have me.” 

Monday morning, the twins and I said goodbye to Sasuke as he drove out of the garage and headed towards the hospital, off to work.   
I looked down at the twins, Suki was dressed in her school uniform and Tama was wearing a green t-shirt and his jacket and black sweatpants. I kneeled down so that I was at their eye level. “So here’s the plan for today, guys. Me and Tama will walk Suki to school and then later, Tama, you’ll be going to the doctor’s.”  
Tama pouted and crossed his arms over his chest as Suki gave me a quick nod and a small smile. “Papa, you said at Grandma’s I didn’t have to go!” He gave a quick stomp of his foot.  
I smiled at him before I shook my head. “Only if you were getting better, but you haven’t.”  
“Yeah, Tama, you kept me up all night with your coughing.” Suki glared at Tama and he stuck his tongue out at her. I smiled at the two of them before standing back up. I held out my hands for each of them to grab and I headed out to the street, beginning the three block walk to their school.   
“It’s okay Tama, you can say hi to your friends while I talk to your teacher, okay?” I looked down at him and he smiled brightly at me with a nod.  
We reached the school building and we walked through the crowded hallways and to their 1st grade classroom. Suki quickly ran to her friend and Tama quickly followed, joining a bunch of boys who were gathered in the back corner of the room.  
I quickly explained to the teacher Tama’s situation and she nodded, telling me she’d send Suki home with the work he’ll miss.  
“So, we have some time before you have to be at the doctor’s, did you want to go eat breakfast or go home?” I asked Tama as we left the school building.  
“Hmm.” Tama hummed, tapping his index finger on his chin. I laughed at the gesture before he looked at me with a mischievous grin. “I wanna go home and play monster trucks! Now that Suki isn’t home, I can run over her dolls and she won’t yell at me!”  
I laughed harder and started walking in the direction of our apartment. “Don’t mess up her stuff too much, you don’t want her to get too mad at you, don’t you?”  
“I guess.” His voice was filled with disappointment. His bad mood quickly vanished as he tugged on my arm. “Papa, can we ride the subway to the doctor’s? Huh, can we?”  
“Sure, why not?” I nodded at him and soon he was jumping around in excitement. The excitement was cut short when he stopped, starting to cough.  
“You okay, baby?” I kneeled down and gently rubbed his back.  
He gave a weak nod but then quickly grabbed his head. “My head hurts.”  
“Want me to carry you home?” I asked him, I was trying my hardest not to panic, worry washing over me.  
“Can you, Papa?” He looked at me with pleading eyes and I nodded, gently cradling him in my arms and walking the rest of the way home.  
As soon as I set him on the ground in the living room, his energy came back and he quickly ran to his room. I shook my head as some of the worry I was feeling started to ebb away. “I’m going to working in my studio if you need me, Tama. I’ll call you when it’s time to go.”  
“Okay!” Came the quick reply. I grabbed a glass of water and headed into my writing studio, sitting down at my desk and turning on my laptop. I looked at the journal that Sasuke had given me for Christmas all those years ago, now worn and filled with plot ideas. I smiled at the journal and turned to one of the entries towards the end.  
I was currently working on a historical novel, an idea I came up with on a day trip with the twins and Sasuke to the American History Museum.  
I was writing for about half an hour, when I heard Tama calling for me. “Just a second, baby!” I quickly tried to finish the paragraph I was on. I typed the last sentence and turned in my chair to leave. Instead, Tama was standing in the doorway, blood dripping quickly from his nose. His shirt was covered in blood and there was trail of blood leading out the door and out of sight. I felt the blood leave my face as I looked at him in what must’ve been horror since he began to cry.  
“Papa!” His cries got louder and I quickly shook my head and stood up, running to the kitchen to grab paper towels.   
“Don’t worry, Tama. I’m coming!” I quickly ran back to where he was, still standing in the doorway. “Here, tilt your head back.” As he tilted his head back, I quickly pinched his nose with the paper towel.  
“Papa, it hurts! I can’t breathe.” He began to whine and shake his head, tears starting to pour down his eyes again.  
“I know, I know baby. I’m sorry but I gotta make the bleeding stop.” I pulled him to me and slowly sat against the hallway wall, bringing him down so his head was resting on my lap, the rest of his body laying on the floor. As I was holding his nose, I began to run my fingers through his hair. I pulled out my cell phone and quickly texted Sasuke, briefly explaining the situation. “We’ll have to take a taxi to the doctor’s, Tama.”  
He was silent for a moment before he sighed and in a weak and tired voice, replied with an ‘okay’.  
I glanced down at him, worry flooding over me once again. His eyes were half-lidded as he was staring at the wall at the end of the hall. His breathing was slow and his face was flushed. I quickly put my hand to his forehead and felt the hot skin. “How’re you feeling?”  
He gave a light shrug but otherwise made no movement.  
My frown deepened. I slowly pulled the tissue away from his nose. There was no noticeable blood coming from his nose. “Can you sit up for me?” I helped him sit up and watched his nose, making sure there’s no more blood coming from it. “Alright, let’s get you cleaned up and head over to the doctor’s.”  
After changing and washing off his face, we grabbed a taxi and headed to the doctor’s. The taxi dropped us off at the Lower Manhattan Hospital and we headed to the pediatric wing.  
We checked in at the waiting area and I sat down in the chairs as Tama headed over to where the toys were. I pulled out my phone and texted Iruka, asking if he could pick up Suki from school and bring her to his place so I could clean up the remaining blood in the apartment.  
It wasn’t long before I got a text back from him. I could tell he was worried and briefly explained what had happened and that we were at the doctor’s now.  
“Daddy!” I heard Tama call out and looked up from the hallway to see Sasuke walk in. He gave me a worried glance but quickly smiled as Tama came running up to him. He picked him up and walked over to where I was sitting, claiming the seat next to me and kissing my cheek. “I wanna kiss too!” Tama pouted at him and we both laughed before he kissed the tip of Tama’s nose.  
“Iruka’s gonna pick Suki up so I can clean up the blood.” I said with a sigh and gently rested my head on his shoulder.  
“Daddy, my nose was bleeding all over! Then Papa pinched me and I couldn’t breathe!” Tama exclaimed loudly.  
I groaned as Sasuke laughed. Some of the parents glaring at me. “Tama, that sounds so bad!”  
“But it did hurt, Papa!” He turned to look at me with a pout. “You pinched my nose and I couldn’t breathe!”  
“Okay Tama, Papa’s very sorry for what he did, but he wanted your nose to stop bleeding and that’s what you have to do.” Sasuke ruffled Tama’s hair and he quickly scrambled off his lap.  
“I wanna go play!” We both nodded and watched Tama go back to the toys.  
“You on your lunch break?” I asked Sasuke, tucking his bangs behind his ear.  
He nodded and leaned into my touch. “I decided to use this time to be there with you two. Just to make sure the doctor’s doing his job.”  
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Of course.” Our doctor was Neji Hyuuga, Sasuke’s rival and friend since medical school. The were always trying to outdo each other in class but Sasuke would trust nobody else but Neji with his family.  
We watched in silence as Tama was happily playing with the toys. Soon, Neji came up next to us. He gave us a slight smile before directing his gaze onto Sasuke, a look of concern on his face.  
“Since you’re going to be here, Sasuke, you can’t interfere with my examination, okay? You’re just a regular parent who’s here to get his son checked up on.”  
Sasuke casually lifted in hands in surrender. “Understood.” He stood up and I followed after him, calling out for Tama.  
Neji led us through the winding corridors and in front of a small station that had a scale. He smiled at Tama. “Now, come stand on top of this for me, Tama.”  
I let go of Tama’s hand and he stepped onto the scale, watching in curiosity as the numbers on the scale fluctuate.  
“Hm.” Neji hummed with a slight frown. “38.7 pounds.” He didn’t seem too happy with the results and I turned to face Sasuke. His eyebrows were furrowed and lips pursed.  
“Is that bad?” I asked, worried.  
“Not necessarily. He’s just a tad bit underweight.” Neji quickly recorded the numbers before moving over to the wall where a large ruler was aligned. “Now Tama, step over here, we’re gonna see how tall you are.”  
Tama stepped off the scale and placed his back against the wall. Neji brought the lever down, placing it snugly on the top of Tama’s head. “44.3 inches. So, about 3 and a half feet. That’s pretty good.”  
I smiled at the good news and as soon as Neji lifted the lever, Tama came running back to me, I held onto his hand and followed Neji as he led us into an empty examination room. He waited till we passed through the door way before sitting in front of the computer in the room, moving the mouse slightly to turn the monitor on. “You can set him up on the table there, Naruto.”  
I nodded my head and picked up Tama and set him down on the table. Sasuke sat down in the plastic chair and I decided to stand at the end of the table, my hand on Tama’s back.  
“So, what brings you here to see me?” Neji asked, hands hovering over the keyboard.  
“Well, Tama’s been coughing a lot lately, for about a month now. And he’s been tiring himself out from barely doing anything.” I nervously bit my lip as I recalled the event that happened earlier today. “And, this just happened today, but he had a nose bleed. It was a pretty bad one too.”  
“I was thinking-” Sasuke started to say but was cut off by a quick glare from Neji. He quickly closed his mouth with an audible snap. “Sorry.” He managed to mumble out as he crossed his hands across his chest.  
“Let’s take his temperature and check his breathing, alright?” Neji stood up and walked to a drawer, pulling out a thermometer.  
Tama started to squirm and I gave him a questioning look. “I don’t want that in my butt!” He screeched.  
I started to laugh and Neji and Sasuke were fighting hard to not laugh either, instead smiles placed on their face. “Why would you think that goes in your butt, Tama?”  
“Suki told me that when they take my temperature, that the thingy goes in my butt!” Tama looked up at the thermometer in Neji’s hands in horror.  
Neji let out a chuckle. “I think she was just messing with you, Tama. This goes in your mouth, right underneath your tongue.”  
Tama visibly relaxed and I couldn’t fight off the last giggle.  
“Now open your mouth wide, and try not to move.” Neji placed the thermometer in Tama’s mouth and Tama tried his best to keep still. The device beeped and Neji gently pulled it off, discarding the plastic covering. He looked at the screen with a deep frown.  
“What? What’s wrong?” I asked worriedly.  
“He seems to have a high fever, 104 degrees to be exact. Do you know if he’s had this fever for a while?”  
“I’ve never actually measured his temperature, but I felt his head and it was pretty hot.” I looked at the ground, feeling guilty for not keeping a better watch on him. I smiled sadly at Tama who looked up at me with curiosity.  
Neji nodded and went back to his computer, typing a bit. “Okay, now let’s check his breathing.” He pulled the stethoscope from his neck, placing the ear pieces into his ear. He placed the disc against Tama’s chest, asking him to breathe deeply and repeated it a couple times before placing it on his back and repeating it once again.  
After he was finished, he typed a couple more things on his computer. He swiveled in his chair to face us. “Well, based on what I’ve seen here today, it seems he’s developed pneumonia.”   
I looked at him in shock and turned to look at Sasuke who was also nodding. “That’s what I was thinking too.”  
“Pneumonia? Will he be okay?” I nervously asked. I pulled Tama closer to me, resting him against my side.  
Neji nodded. “Yes, I’ve written a prescription for him and sent it over to your regular pharmacy. Just have him take it everyday till it runs out, even if he’s getting better, keep taking it.”  
I nodded and picked up Tama, giving him a loving smile. “Say thank you to Doctor Neji. He's giving you medicine to feel better.”  
“Thank you Doctor Neji!” Tama smiled brightly at Neji. Neji gave him a smile back before pulling out a blue lollipop from his front pocket and handing it to Tama. “Oh wow! Thank you! Daddy, can you open it please?”  
The three of us laughed as Sasuke went to open the wrapper for him. “Thanks again, Neji.” He patted his shoulder and me and Sasuke walked out of the room together.  
“I'll see you after work tonight, okay?” Sasuke kissed the top of my head and I nodded my head and watched as Sasuke ruffled Tama’s hair and went down a different corridor to check in with a patient.  
“Ready to go? I'm going to drop you off with Uncle Iruka so I can clean up, okay?” I looked down at him as we began the walk to leave the hospital.   
“Okay, but can we please please pleaseee go on the subway?” Tama looked up at me with wide eyes and I laughed as I nodded my head.  
After a ten minute ride on the subway and a quick two minute walk, we reached Iruka’s apartment building. I rang the buzzer and then heard the front door unlock.  
We climbed up the three flights of stairs and I frowned as Tama was breathing heavily.   
“Hey guys!” I looked up to see Iruka in front of his door waving excitedly. “Kakashi just left to go get Suki.”  
I groaned out loud and rolled my eyes. “You let that pervert go pick her up on his own? I thought I could trust you, Iruka!” I snickered at the glare that Iruka sent me.  
“Oh, Naruto! Come on Tama, let’s go inside and play.”  
Tama nodded tiredly and walked slowly into the apartment.  
Me and Iruka both watched with looks of concern. He turned to me frowning. “Is he alright?”  
I gave a shrug. “Neji believes it's pneumonia. I have to pick the medicine up and start giving it to him.”  
“Why don't you and Sasuke go out tonight? Kakashi and I will watch the twins and they can stay over. I'll text Kakashi now to stop by your place to pick up the medicine.”  
I looked at him appreciatively. “Really? You'll do that?”  
Iruka nodded and I gave him a big hug. “It's not a problem, really.”  
“Thank you again, Iruka. Bye Tama, Papa will see you tomorrow!” I shouted and faintly heard Tama’s reply. I gave one last wave before heading out and to the pharmacy.  
Cleaning supplies and Tama’s medicine in hand, I arrived at the penthouse and looked around. The hallway had a trail of blood that started from the twins room and stopped in a small puddle in front of my studio.   
I set the bags down and got the cleaning supplies out. I decided to start in front of my studio. As I passed the twins’ room and peeked in, I saw just exactly how much blood there was. There was a huge, dark red stain in the middle of the room, no doubtfully where Tama was playing. There was a small trail that led to Tama’s bed where I saw one of his blankets covered in blood.  
I frowned and continued my way down the hall. I began to clean, getting lost in my thoughts, when the sound of the buzzer brought me back to reality. Realizing I was almost to the twins’ room I gave a small smile before running to the monitor. Kakashi was smiling lazily, holding Suki’s hand, the other one holding an ice cream cone. I buzzed them in and waited patiently for them to reach our floor.  
“Hey Kakashi,” I greeted. “Thanks again for taking them.” I walked into the kitchen to grab Tama’s medicine and handed it to Kakashi.  
“Its no problem, Naru.” He smiled mischievously and I narrowed my eyes in a glare at the nickname. “Anything for my little niece and nephew.”  
“Papa?” We both turned to look at Suki who was standing in front of the doorway to her room.  
“Oh shit!” My eyes widened and I quickly ran over to close the door. “Come on, sweetie, you’re gonna spend the night with Iruka and Kakashi.”  
“But Papa, what happened? There's blood everywhere!” She looked up at me with confusion and I could start to see tears forming in the corner of her eyes. “Did Tama die, Papa?” Her voice sounded so small and I quickly dropped to my knees, and brought her into a tight hug.  
“Oh baby, no. No, nothing like that.” I pulled her away from me and ran my hand through her hair, cupping her cheek. “Tama just had a bloody nose. He's a little bit sick, but the doctors gave him medicine so he's going to be okay.”  
Suki nodded before giving me a small smile.  
“Ready to go, Suki?” Kakashi came over and held out his hand for her to take.   
“I'll pick you up from school tomorrow, Suki.” I watched the two of them leave before sighing and going back to the cleaning.  
The twins room took a lot longer to clean then I first thought. The large puddle in the middle of the room, once dry, left a noticeable stain that was too stubborn to get out.  
I threw the sheets and blankets into the wash before cleaning, moving them to the dryer halfway, and now that I finished, I headed down to the laundry room to pick them up.  
On my way back through the lobby, I saw Sasuke walk through the building doors. He stopped at the elevator doors and I quickly caught up to him.  
“Hey, so we have the whole night to ourselves.” I whispered into Sasuke's ear.  
I giggled as he stiffened before relaxing, realizing it was me. He turned to face me, a smirk on his face. “So what do you wanna do?”  
We got into the elevator and I leaned the laundry basket against my hip. “I wanna go on a date! A really fancy one!”   
He raised an eyebrow. “Really now?”  
“Mhm.” I nodded and ran up a finger down from his shoulder to his hand. “And then, I wanna spend the rest of the night, on my back, underneath you, legs u-mmph!” I was quickly cut off by Sasuke's mouth that I nearly dropped the basket.   
We kissed each other passionately, lips bruising from the roughness, until the elevator dinged and we pulled away from each other, reluctantly.  
“Or, we can skip dinner for now and just have dessert first.” I whispered, staring at him with eyes filled with lust.  
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Oh yeah, but if you don't think I'm getting a second helping of dessert after dinner, you've been mistaken.” He picked me up, bridal style, and carried me to the bedroom.

I nervously sat in the waiting room of the Pediatrics wing, my stomach churning viciously. It's been almost a month since we were last here, a couple days before Christmas. Tama finished the medicine, and was not getting better. His coughing and tiredness have become more frequent and he was complaining about having more headaches. We took his temperature every night, hoping it would go down, but it hasn't.  
Nosebleeds gradually started to become more frequent, now he gets one almost every day. For the past week and a half, he’s been too tired to go to school.  
I made an appointment as soon as I realized he wasn't getting better and the medicine was getting low.  
Over the last week or two, I was also starting to get sick, the stress catching up to me. I rubbed my stomach as the urge to vomit started to make me gag. I held my hand over my mouth until the feeling passed and I let out a sigh of relief. I looked down at Tama who was sitting in the chair next to me, leaning against the armrest of the chair. I slowly threaded my fingers through his hair.  
“Hey.” I looked up to see Sasuke walk in. I nodded my head in greeting but stayed silent, afraid that opening my mouth would encourage me to throw up. “Neji’s just finishing up now, he'll be out soon.” He sat down next to Tama and lightly rubbed his back.  
It was silent for a moment before the urge to vomit came back tenfold and I quickly stood up and looked around for a trash can. I threw up into it as quiet as I could, trying not to bring too much attention to myself.  
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Neji walk over to me. “Hey, you okay?”  
I nodded weakly at him. “Yeah, I just need to wash up in the bathroom.”  
“Alright I'm going to take his vitals and then we'll be in room 213.”  
I nodded my head and stood up a little straighter as Sasuke came over, Tama resting in his arm. “You should also see a doctor while we're here.” Sasuke looked at me with concern.  
“Yeah, I'll do that.” I nodded my head.  
“Go wash up and head on up, I'll be with Tama and once we're done, we'll come up to see you.” Sasuke kissed the top of my head, and followed Neji down the hall.  
I let out a sigh as I went into the bathroom and stood in front of the sink. I looked up at my reflection, examining it.  
There dark circles under my eyes and I could see that my blue eyes seemed to be a little bit more gray. And my tan skin seemed to be more pale. I sighed and quickly splashed water onto my face and then rinsed out my mouth. I could see why Sasuke would be concerned.   
I headed to the elevator to go to the floor where they had their clinic. I headed into the lobby and to the front desk where the two receptionists were sitting, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka.  
“Hey there, Sakura, Ino.” I greeted as I leaned casually a top the counter. “I'm here for a walk-in.”  
Sakura scrunched her nose in confusion. “A walk-in?”  
I nodded my head.  
“Sasuke came in last Friday and penciled you into Kiba’s schedule.” Ino said.  
I looked at them in surprise as they giggled. “Oh, okay then. Should I sit down?”  
“Nope, I'm right here, blondie!” I turned around to see Kiba smiling at me.  
Kiba and I were best friends in high school and even started college together. After I dropped out, we didn't talk much but we still considered each other best friends.  
“Let’s go find out what's wrong with you.” I followed him into a room.  
He took my vitals before asking a couple questions.  
“I have an idea of what's going on, but to be sure, I want you to pee in this cup for me.” He set a urine test on the counter and pushed it toward me.  
I nodded my head and took it, heading to the bathroom.  
After I finished, I went back in and dropped it off.  
“You gonna be here for a while?” He asked as he began to walk me back to the lobby.  
I shrugged. “I wasn’t planning on it but I have a couple of hours before I have to pick up Suki. So I can stay.”  
“Alright, give me an hour and I'll bring the results to you. You'll be in the cafeteria?”  
“Yeah. I'll see you then.” We went our separate ways as I pushed the door open and saw Sasuke sitting in a chair, Tama asleep on his lap.  
“How’d it go?” I asked quietly as I picked up Tama and we headed to the elevator.  
“Neji decided on a blood test and he'll call us on Wednesday to discuss the results.” He replied, hands in his pocket.  
“What do you think it could be?” I asked him quietly. We stopped in front of the entrance to the pediatric wing and I studied him carefully. He looked off to the side, unable to look at me.  
“I'm not to sure, but it doesn’t seem good.” He finally replied after some time. He looked at me and sighed. “I'm gonna head back, I wanna know how your appointment went. See you tonight.” He placed a quick kiss on my cheek and waved before heading down the hallway.  
I headed to the cafeteria, stopping in line to buy a ginger ale. I gently shook Tama awake. “Do you want anything, baby?”  
He gently shook his head and looked around the room. “Where's Daddy?”  
“Daddy had to go back to work and Papa has to wait for his doctor.” I paid for my drink before finding a small empty booth to sit down in.  
As we waited, I gave Tama my cellphone so he could play his game. I watched over him and waited for Kiba.  
“Hey, Naruto!” I looked up and saw Kiba. I waved at him before looking at Tama. “I'll be right back, okay? Just stay here.” Tama nodded and I stood up to walk over to Kiba.  
“So I got some good news and some not as good news.” Kiba said, an envelope in his hands.  
I nodded, my heart beating faster and my stomach doing flips.  
“The good news is, you’re pregnant. Congratulations!” He smiled brightly and patted my shoulder.  
I stood stiff, frozen in shock. I was happy but I was also feeling scared, the thought of having another miscarriage already pushing through any other thoughts in my head.  
“Now the not so good news,” I shook myself from my thoughts to see Kiba frowning at me. “Is your blood pressure is too high. I know you've had those two miscarriages in the past. So to avoid that, you'll need to work on trying to relax more. Try to also lessen your sodium intake. No ramen.” He gave me a smirk as I let out a groan.   
“Seriously? No ramen at all?” I looked at him and he shook his head. “Oh Sasuke will have a field day with that.” I stopped. I wanted to share the news with Sasuke, but more than being afraid of having another miscarriage, I was afraid to lose Sasuke again.  
“But seriously Naruto, I also understand things are going on with Tama too, I'm not just your doctor, I'm also your friend. If you need help, me and Hinata always got your back.”   
“Thank you, Kiba. I really appreciate it.” I gave him a smile.  
“Here.” He held out the envelope and I took it from him. “Go out and celebrate. Also, Merry Christmas!” He waved and headed out the cafeteria doors.   
Tama and I headed to the school to pick up Suki. It was their last day of class before Christmas vacation began.   
Suki was waiting in the front yard, a bag in her hand. She waved goodbye to her friends and quickly ran over to us. “Look Tama, our class gave you treats since you couldn't come to the party!” She held the bag open and Tama smiled at the sight.  
“Isn't that nice? We'll have to thank them once break is over, right Tama?” I looked down at him to see him pull out a lollipop.  
He nodded and smiled.  
We arrived at our penthouse and were greeted by the sight of Kyuubi who was sitting on the couch with Ryou.  
“Uncle Kyuu!” The twins screamed and ran over to him, climbing onto the couch.  
“Hey, what are you doing here? And where's Itachi and Kairi?” I asked as I walked into the living room, sitting on the chair.  
“Well, we were gonna drive all the way to the Uchiha manor, but I wanted to take a break from driving and decided to spend the night at my little brother's!” Kyuubi smiled brightly at me and I rolled my eyes. “As for Itachi and Kairi, they went to pick up some kind of dinner. There's so much more to choose from than Philly. Now, tell me what's been going on with you, you look like shit.”  
“Kyuubi!” I hissed, glaring at him as he gave me a sheepish smile. “Watch your mouth.” The twins started to laugh and I let out a sigh of defeat. “There’s just the thing with Tama, and I just found out some news from the doctor.” I began to trail off, not wanting to talk more about it.  
Kyuubi frowned, a look of concern flashing across his face. “Naru, what hap-” He was cut off by the sound of the buzzer and we both jumped in fright.  
I quickly stood up to see Itachi and Kairi on the monitor, bags in their hand. I buzzed them in and waited until they walked through the door. “Kairi! My favorite niece!” I yelled, my arms open wide in a hug.  
“Uncle Naru!” She ran into my arms and gave me a hug afterwards. “We got Indian food!”  
I stood up and smiled at her. “Sounds delicious!”  
She nodded before running into the living room, shouting the twin’s name's.  
“How’d Tama’s appointment go?”  
I turned to face Itachi and watched as he started to take containers out of the bag. I let out a sigh and sat in the chair, trying not worry myself by thinking of what could be wrong. “He got blood work done today, we won't hear about the results until Wednesday. Sasuke doesn't think it's going to be good news.” I stared at my lap as I clenched my jaw tightly. ‘Don’t stress.’ I kept repeating the thought in my mind.  
Itachi hummed. “How about you? You don't look so good.”  
I laughed sheepishly as I looked up at him. “I've been told that a lot today. But yeah, I'm okay. I just have so much on my mind. It's a little overwhelming.”  
The sound of the kids shouting distracted us from our conversation. I gave him a curious look before standing up and heading into the living room. Once there, I smiled at the sight of Sasuke surrounded by the children, a smile on his face.  
“Welcome home.” I greeted him and he looked up to meet my eyes. He nodded his head and gestured back towards the kitchen.  
We headed into the kitchen just as Itachi was carrying plates and the indian food out. He greeted Sasuke and we waited until we could see them all settled in.  
“So how was your appointment?” Sasuke leaned against the counter next to the kitchen sink as I sat in the nearest chair.  
“Nothing special, really.” I tried to sound casual, not showing my nervousness. “Kiba said my blood pressure was too high. So, I need to l-lower my stress.” I cursed at myself for stuttering, Sasuke's intense gaze making me want to look away from and feeling guilty for lying.  
“You’re stressed?” He raised an eyebrow before scowling and let out a scoff. “What else is there, Naruto?”  
I tried giving him by best confused look. “I-I don't know what you mean. There is nothing else.”  
“Naruto.” His voice sounded angry and I couldn't help but to turn away from him.  
“Sasuke.”  
There was a long pause and I kept my gaze directed to the floor.  
“Naruto, please tell me.” Sasuke's voice now sounded desperate and I turned to look to see his face filled with worry.   
I felt guilty and I opened my mouth to say something when Kyuubi quickly ran into the kitchen.  
“Tama has a nosebleed.” He grabbed the towel paper roll and ran back into the living room.  
“Tch.” I turned and watched as Sasuke left the kitchen, hearing our bedroom door close after him.  
I sighed before going underneath the sink and taking out the cleaning supplies.  
After putting the kids to sleep and setting up the pull-out couch for Itachi and Kyuubi, I headed into our bedroom, a feeling of dread washing over me.  
I opened the door to see Sasuke sitting cross-legged on the bed, laptop and a couple papers set up in front of him. I closed the door behind me and leaned against it.  
“Sasuke?”  
He didn’t look up from his work, only briefly pausing to let me know he was listening.  
“I have something to show you.” I walked over to our dresser and opened the second drawer, digging underneath clothes to pull out the envelope that Kiba gave to me earlier. I let out a sigh and faced him.  
His face had a look of indifference but I could see a spark of curiosity in his eyes as he saw the envelope in my hands.  
“These are the results that I got today.” I handed him the unopened envelope.  
He took it tentatively before carefully opening it and reading it over. His eyebrows furrowed in what I could only assume was confusion. He then looked up at me, hurt across his face.  
I turned away, unable to look him in the eyes.  
“Why did you lie to me?” The question came out in a whisper.  
“I didn’t want to tell you.”  
“What? Why not?” He started to get angry. “What on earth would possess you to keep you being pregnant a secret from me? Huh?!”  
I swallowed audibly. “I don’t want to hurt you.”  
There was a pause from him. “Hurt me? What the fuck are you talking about?!”  
I turned to him, already feeling the tears rolling down my face. “I don't want to hurt you again! I don't want to, I didn’t want to tell you because I'm afraid I'll have another miscarriage.” I whispered out the last word. “I don’t want to disappoint you anymore.”  
“Naruto,” Sasuke shuffles his things out of the way before scooting to the edge of the bed, holding out his hands for me to take. I grabbed them before he gently pulled me closer to him, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his head against my stomach. I placed my hands on top of his head and began to thread my fingers through his hair. “I never was disappointed with you.”  
“I've had two miscarriages already, who says I won't have another one? Kiba says I'm too stressed out but everything going on with Tama, I don’t know what to do, Sasuke.”   
“No matter what happens, I'm right here beside you. We're in this together Naruto.” Sasuke pulled me down so I was sitting on his lap. “I love you.”  
“I love you too.”

The next day, after lunch, we were preparing to say our goodbyes to Itachi and Kyuubi.  
“We’ll probably be leaving Wednesday afternoon, and we'll get there around dinner-ish.” Sasuke was leaning against the open door of the driver’s side, waiting for Itachi to get in.  
I stood off to his side, the twins were standing by Sasuke watching Itachi put the suitcases back into the trunk.  
“You have some last minute work to do?” Kyuubi asked.  
The cellphone in my pocket rang and I looked at the number to see it was Neji. I frowned, wasn't he suppose to call tomorrow? I felt my stomach start to churn. “Hold on, I gotta take this.”  
I walked farther away from them and answered the phone. “Neji?”  
“Naruto.” His voice low. “I have Tama’s results.”  
I felt my heart stop and my mouth get dry. “Y-yeah?” Judging from his tone of voice, I didn’t like where this was heading.  
“I'm sorry to tell you this, Naruto. But I'm afraid Tama has leukemia.”  
“L-leu-” I couldn't finish saying the words without a sob escaping. I fell to the ground, dropping the phone.  
“Naruto!” I heard more so than saw, Sasuke run towards me. My eyes were flooding and I could feel myself shaking from crying. “Naruto, what's going on?” He kneeled in front of me and placed a hand on my shoulder.  
I looked up at him and I could barely form the words. “It's leukemia.”


	3. Chapter 3

Christmas was cut short for our family due to the news of Tama, we left the Uchiha manor the night of, heading back into the city in about an hour, gifts in the trunk of the car.

When we arrived at home, I helped get the twins into bed as Sasuke unloaded the car.

"Papa, why did we have to leave grandpa and grandma's house?" Tama asked with a pout.

"Cause you have to go to the doctor's on Monday and I want to make sure you're comfortable before then." I softly explained to him, trying my hardest to keep my tears from falling.

Tama was quiet, keeping his eyes set on the ceiling. His eyebrows were furrowed and I could tell a lot on his mind.

"What's leukemia?" I looked over at Suki who was staring intently at me. I bit my lip, not really knowing how to answer.

"It's a disease, sweetie." I turned to see Sasuke leaning against the doorway. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. He pushed himself off and walked over to her bed, sitting on the edge and gently ran his fingers through her hair. "It makes someone feel very sick and tired."

"Like how Tama is?" Suki asked quietly.

"Yeah, like Tama." Sasuke replied.

"Will I get better Daddy?" Tama asked quickly. "I wanna play soccer with my friends!"

I gave a quick look to Sasuke but he was still looking down at Suki, keeping his face hidden.

"Neji and I are going to make sure you do get better, Tama. And Papa too." He finally looked up to me, a determined gleam in his eyes and I smiled at him.

"That's right, Tama." I gave his hair a slight ruffle before standing up. "We're going to kick leukemia's butt!"

The twins started to giggle and I saw Sasuke roll his eyes before he too stood up and grabbed my hand. "Alright, time for bed guy's."

"Goodnight! We love you!" The twins said together.

"Love you too, goodnight." I turned off the light and followed Sasuke down the hall to our bedroom. We changed out of our clothes and into our pajamas. Sasuke laid down on his side of the bed before pulling the covers up to cover us both.

"You know, we'll have to run a blood test on Suki too." He said after a moment of silence.

"What?" I sat up, looking at him in shock. "W-why?"

"Well, they're twins, even though fraternal, but it's just to make sure."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, there was also a chance of Suki having it too. I slowly laid back on top of Sasuke's chest. Speechless.

"Did Kiba ever tell you how far along you were?" I appreciated Sasuke for trying to change the subject and I racked my brain for the answer, unable to come up with one. I lightly shook my head as nothing but a blank came up. "I don't think so. But it should've said so on that paper, right?"

"To be honest, I stopped reading after I saw that you were pregnant." He replied, nonchalant.

I scoffed at him. "Who knew you could be so careless."

I felt a soft kiss being placed on top of my head and I smiled. Sasuke could be so sweet when he wanted to be. "When it comes to you, I even surprise myself."

I looked at him and my smile grew bigger at his small smirk. "You're such a sweet bastard." I laughed loudly as his smirk turned into an irritated scowl.

*1 Month Later*

It was Tama's first appointment before chemotherapy and me and him were waiting patiently in the waiting room.

The weeks before we were relieved to hear that Suki had no traces of having leukemia. After having another appointment with Kiba, we found I was about 6 weeks, at the time we found out I was pregnant, making me 10 weeks now. The morning sickness seemed to be getting worse and I was feeling more tir ed than I've ever felt before.

I had another appointment today as well, but after last week's appointment, I was relieved to hear that I passed through the most common time of miscarriages to happen, though I wasn't out of the clear yet.

"Tama Uchiha?" A nurse called out and I quickly stood up, gesturing for Tama to follow after her.

She brought us into a room where Sasuke, Neji and a doctor I've never seen before stood together near the computer. The nurse cleared her throat, grabbing the attention of the doctor's.

Neji smiled at me and Tama before scooting his chair closer to us. Sasuke and the other doctor kept their positions near the computer.

"So, what's going on here?" I asked nervously as I placed Tama on top of examination table.

"We're just discussing the course of action to take, that's all. Oh, this will be Tama's cancer doctor Sai Shimura." He gestured towards the doctor who waved at us.

I nodded back and looked over at Sasuke who had his arms crossed over his chest. His lips were pursed and he was staring at the ground. "So what's Sasuke doing here? I thought he's not allowed to interfere with Tama's care."

Neji looked back at Sasuke before facing me. "Tsunade made an exception. He's allowed to make advice and step in with Tama's stay-in care but any tough decisions we have to call in you as well."

"Oh, okay." I frowned as Neji's words sank in. "Wait, stay-in care?"

"Yes, Tama will be staying in a room for the duration of his chemotherapy." Sai spoke up.

"H-he can't come home? At all?" I asked, I held on to Tama's shoulder tightly.

"Papa." Tama whimpered and I looked down at him. "You're holding too tight."

"I'm sorry baby." I kissed the top of his head before looking to Sasuke who turned his head from me quickly. "Sasuke can we talk outside, please?"

Sasuke reluctantly got up and said something to Sai before following me out the door.

"You never told me that he had to stay here." I hissed at him, narrowing my eyes at him in anger. "Why can't he come home?"

Sasuke stuck his hands in his lab coat pockets, still refusing to look at me. "He's going to start getting sick, Naruto. He won't want to keep getting on a train, or bus, or a taxi all the time."

I leaned down to try and get him to look me in the eye. "Why can't we just ask him when the time comes?" He closed his eyes and stood up straighter and I followed his actions, crossing my arms across my chest. He opened his eyes and stared at me. I scoffed as he gave me his 'doctor-talking-to-a-patient' look.

"Naruto, it's going to be difficult for him and very inconvenient for the doctors too. Also, you don't want to let Suki see him in so much pain, do you?"

I dropped my arms and turned my head away. "No. She shouldn't see that." I let out a sigh. "How long will he be here?"

I watched as Sasuke ran a hand through his hair and grimaced. "A month or two."

"Two months?!" I practically screeched. I looked at him in disbelief. "He's going to be here alone for two months?"

"Well, here's the thing." He trailed off, looking like he was searching for the words to say. I felt my stomach drop unpleasantly and I had to suppress the urge to vomit. "I'm actually going to stay with him."

I felt my heart skip a beat and my breath hitch. I looked at him in confusion. "W-what?"

"I think he'd feel better if one of us stay with him, and since I work here anyways, I can just come in the room and stay with him."

"What about me and Suki?"

"Of course you can come whenever you like Naruto."

I stayed silent and looked at the ground, not wanting him to see me cry. I couldn't help feeling selfish, wanting Sasuke to be at home instead of staying here. But I couldn't bare to think of Tama suffering all alone. The sobs started before I could make them stop and I felt Sasuke wrap his arms around me.

"Come on, let's go back in." Sasuke said after I began to calm down.

I nodded my head and wiped the tears from my face. I followed Sasuke back into the room.

"Papa! Dr. Neji said I'm gonna stay here at hospital with Daddy!" Tama smiled brightly at me and I gave him a weak smile back, trying to seem as happy as he was. "We can live with Daddy while I have luke kim ya!"

I felt my smile falter and I gently shook my head. "Me and Suki have to stay at home, baby." I felt the tears start to fall again and I looked up at the three of them. "When does he have to be admitted?"

Neji gave a look to the two of them before he stood up. "Well, we want to start as soon as possible so I would say tomorrow morning."

A sob escaped my throat and I quickly coughed to try and cover it up. "S-so soon?"

"Naruto," Sasuke spoke up, frowning at me.

There was a tug on my sleeve and I looked down at Tama who had a small, sad smile.

"Please don't cry, Papa. I'm sorry."

I couldn't help myself and I began to cry, gathering Tama in my arms. "Baby, no, no, don't ever be sorry about this okay?" I pulled away from him, and looked into his eyes, gently holding his face in my hands. "It's not your fault, baby."

Tama nodded and I kissed the top of his forehead.

"So let's go over what exactly will be happening while Tama is staying here." Sai spoke up and I quietly sat down in the chair next to the examination table, holding Tama's hand.

After the doctor's, Sasuke, Tama and I left to go pick up Suki from school.

"Suki, I'm going to be living at the hospital with Daddy while I have stu key ya!" Tama ran up to her as she said goodbye to her friends.

"Its leukemia." Sasuke corrected with a nod.

"Can I stay too?" Suki looked to Sasuke, her eyes filled with hope.

I smiled down at her. "No, you're going to be staying with me at home."

Suki gave me a frown. "Why can't we stay with Daddy and Tama? I don't want to be separated."

"But Suki, now you can play your dolls and I can play my monster trucks!" He smiled brightly at her and I could feel myself start to cry. I held on tightly to Sasuke's hand and he gave me a squeeze back in reassurance.

Suki seemed to think it over before nodding her head and giving him a smile. "We can write letters to each other everyday!"

"Yeah! That sounds like fun!" Tama laughed loudly.

"Well you guys, today is going to be the last night we're all together for a little while, what do you wanna do?"

"The aquarium!" The twins shouted together.

"And I wanna eat at Johnny Rockets!" Tama said afterwards

"And ice cream!" Suki quickly said after him.

"And can we take the subway?"

"Yeah, the subway!"

I laughed at their excitement before nodding. "Yes, yes. We can do all of that." I held out both my hands for the twins to grab and followed Sasuke to the nearest subway station.

The first week of not having Tama and Sasuke around at home was surprisingly easy. There was less of a mess to clean up without Tama. And even though I missed Sasuke, it was nice to focus more of my time on my novel.

Suki was still her impassive self at first but then she started to be more talkative throughout the week. I'm guessing it had something to do with the fact that Tama's loud personality wasn't overshadowing her quiet one anymore.

We visited Tama everyday after school, becoming a happy family for about three hours until it was time for me and Suki to leave. On Saturday we spent the whole day there, bringing over a bunch of movies to watch together. On Sunday, I began to see some of the effects of the chemo affecting Tama. He would throw up randomly throughout the day and he complained about the pain to Sasuke who would then give him painkillers.

"Naruto?" I looked up from watching the twins napping on Tama's bed together, and Sasuke looked at me, a look of concern on his face. "Are you okay?"

I nodded my head when I felt my face becoming wet. I didn't even realize that I began to cry. "It's just so hard to see him in pain."

He came over and stood behind my chair, wrapping his arms around my neck and lightly kissing the top of my head. "I know, but Tama's a fighter. He's doing good."

We stood like that for some time, watching the twins sleeping together and for a moment, everything was back to normal.

"We should get going." I said, making no move to get up, instead leaning farther back into Sasuke's hold.

Sasuke stayed silent, his even breathing a comforting sound to my ear.

The silence was interrupted by Tama beginning to cough. He woke up and instantly Sasuke ran over and grabbed the bedpan, just in time for Tama to lean over the side of the bed and throw up.

I stood up and walked over to him, gently rubbing his back. "Are you okay?"

Tama nodded as he stayed in place.

Suki sat up in bed and watched him carefully. I went over to her and gently grabbed her hand.

"You ready to go home?" She nodded, still watching her brother. "Say bye to Daddy and Tama."

"Bye Daddy, bye Tama." She said quietly.

"Bye Tama." I kissed him on the forehead as he laid back down in bed. "Bye Sasuke." I kissed him quickly on the lips but he pulled me back, kissing me passionately.

"Bye Naruto. See you tomorrow." He leaned his forehead against mine before kissing the tip of my nose. He pulled away with a small smile before looking to Suki. "Bye Suki, we'll see you tomorrow."

We left the hospital and waited outside for a cab. The cab approached and I gave him the directions to our apartment. The ride there was quiet, Suki looking like she fell asleep. When we reached our home, I gently picked her up and carried her inside.

"Papa?" She spoke up as the elevator stopped on our floor.

"Yes, baby?" I gently set her on the couch.

"Tama's in a lot of pain, isn't he?" Suki sat quietly, her hands folded in her lap. She pursed her lips together, her face looking almost exactly like Sasuke's.

I leaned down in front of her. "Yes he is, but it's going to be okay. Daddy is doing his best to make sure Tama doesn't feel that pain anymore."

"It hurts, Papa." She whispered.

I pulled her close to me, rocking her as she began to cry. "I'm so sorry, Suki."

After a few minutes of her crying, I realized she cried herselfto sleep. I brought her into her room and tucked her into bed.

I changed into my pajamas and climbed into my own bed, pulling out my phone.

Suki cried herself to sleep. She's really upset about seeing Tama in pain guess you were right. I sent the text to Sasuke, placing the phone next to my pillow. I waited for a little bit before picking up my phone once again. I miss you.

As I was about to fall asleep, my phone buzzed and I briefly checked it. I miss you too.

I woke up from my nap the next day after dropping off Suki at school, to the sound of my phone going off. I groaned before answering, not bothering to check who it was.

"Hello?" I answered groggily.

"Naruto!" Sasuke screamed.

I pulled the phone away from my ear, growling. "Sasuke, why are you screaming?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you Naruto?! Where are you?!"

"What are you talking about? I was taking a nap. What the hell are you getting so mad at?"

"Why haven't you been answering your phone?! You left Suki at school for a good fucking hour, Naruto."

"What?" I scrunched my nose in confusion and turned to face the clock that was on our nightstand. It read 4:35. I stared at the clock, eyes wide in disbelief. I was asleep for 7 hours? "I-i didn't know! I only meant to be asleep for an hour. Where is she?! Is she okay?!"

There was a pause and then a long sigh. "Yeah. She's fine. Iruka brought her here after picking her up."

"Sasuke, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." He then hung up.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and saw the missed calls from Sasuke, Iruka and Suki's school. I got up and began to get dressed before heading to the hospital.

I walked into Tama's room to see Tama watching Tv while Suki was sitting at the foot of the bed, her school work out. I looked over in the corner to see Sasuke on his phone, his head resting in his hand.

I gently knocked on the door, smiling at the room sheepishly. "Hey everyone."

"Papa!" The twins shouted. Sasuke didn't look up from his phone.

I walked into the room and wrapped Suki in a hug. "Baby, I'm so sorry I wasn't there today."

"Its okay Papa. Are you okay?" She looked at me with concern and started to tear up nodding my head.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I was just really tired."

"Papa! I want a hug!" Tama shouted, his arms open wide.

I chuckled before standing up. "Alright, I'm coming."

I got over there and gave him a hug. I began to run my fingers through his hair. As I pulled my hand away, a small chunk of hair came with it. I looked at it in shock.

"Papa, why'd you stop?" Tama asked, sounding upset.

"N-no reason." I quickly hid it in my fist as Tama looked up at me. I smiled down at him. "I'll be right back." I headed into the bathroom and closed the door.

Looking at the hair in my hand, I felt tears running down my face. I brought the soft strands to my cheek, trying to keep my sobs from reaching the others.

After crying for what felt like hours, I placed the hair in my jacket pocket, not wanting to throw them out and began to wash my face, hoping to rid the evidence of me crying.

As I stepped out, Sasuke was over next to Tama who was leaning over the side of the bed. Suki was standing near the bathroom door, a pained look on her face. "Papa, can we go home?"

I looked down at Suki and looked at Sasuke and Tama. Sasuke gave me an apologetic look before giving his attention back to Tama. "Sure, we can go home."

Suki nodded and said her goodbyes before practically running out the door. I said my goodbyes as well and followed behind her.

The rest of the week went by with no more incidents of me sleeping too long, though I felt myself tire more easily. We didn't visit the hospital as long anymore, Suki began to get more uncomfortable the more she saw Tama becoming sicker.

Over the weekend, I dropped off Suki at Iruka's who took her to visit the hospital. I felt too tired to join in, deciding to spend that time alone at home. I got a few text messages from Sasuke, him asking where I was. I mostly chose to ignore them, not feeling up to replying.

I mostly spent Saturday on my phone, in my room. Looking at old pictures of our family on Facebook. The more I looked at them, the more sad and empty I felt. I didn't feel like writing, or even eating. I kept crying throughout the day, sleeping in between. The only comfort I had was holding Tama's hair that I kept under my pillow.

Sunday came along, I spent most of the day sleeping until I heard the front door buzz, indicating that someone was at the door.

I got up with a groan and rang them in.

Iruka and Kakashi came up, Suki in Kakashi's arms. Iruka gave me a once over before frowning. "Naruto?"

"Yeah?" I leaned against the door frame, allowing them some room to pass through. I watched Iruka give a look to Kakashi who nodded and headed into Suki and Tama's room. Iruka stayed in place.

"Are you okay?"

I gave him a shrug, crossing my arms across my chest and sighing. "I'm doing my best."

"Tama was asking about you yesterday and today."

I felt a pang in my chest but stayed silent.

"Naruto, he thinks you don't want to see him because he's sick." Iruka placed a hand on my shoulder and I quickly pulled out of his grip.

"I don't!" I screamed at him and he took a step back in shock. I began to cry. "I don't want to see him in pain, Iruka. Last week I was touching his hair and it just came out in my hand! I can't see him like this, it hurts too much." I whispered the last part, ashamed at my own selfish thoughts.

"That's not fair to him though, Naruto." Iruka gently grabbed my arm and guided me to the couch. "And I know Suki feels the same way, but she also knows that Tama needs his family right now and she's doing her best."

"I know. She's a lot braver than me." I gave a mocking laugh. "She does take after Sasuke after all." I shook my head, unsure of what else to say.

"How about this," he patted my knee and I gave him my full attention, wiping at the tears that still lingered. "I'll pick up Suki from school and bring her to the hospital until you're ready to go yourself, okay?"

"You'll really do that?" I looked up at him hopefully.

"Of course I would, Naruto." He gave me a small smile, and I smiled back at him.

Maybe having some help will make this a little better.


	4. Chapter 4

Monday morning my alarm went off and I walked into the twins' room. I stood in the doorway staring at the empty beds. I sighed as I walked into the kitchen.

I looked through the fridge and the pantry but found nothing that sparked my appetite. I headed back into the bedroom and got back into bed. I pulled the covers up to my shoulder and reached under my pillow to grab Tama's hair.

I didn't realize I fell asleep until I was being shaken awake. I blinked my eyes, trying to clear the fog. I sat up with a yawn and turned to see Sasuke frowning at me.

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?" I was confused, wasn't he suppose to be with Tama?

"It's Valentine's Day." He replied, still frowning at me.

I stared back unsure of what to say. I lightly coughed to dispel the silence before speaking up. "Okay, but who's with Tama?"

He scrunched up his nose. "Iruka. Didn't you get any of my texts?"

I shook my head. "I was asleep. What time is it?"

"Asleep for how long?"

"I'm not sure. Nine?" I shrugged and tried to look at the clock on the nightstand, only to realize Sasuke was standing in the way. "What time is it?"

"A quarter to 4." His voice was monotone, filled with almost no emotion.

My eyes widened in surprise and I looked down at my lap, feeling myself turn red from embarrassment.

"What's this?" I looked up at him to see him holding Tama's hair in his hand. My eyes once again widened and I felt myself begin to panic.

"N-nothing! Can I please have it back?" I reached for it only to have Sasuke retract his arm with a glare.

"It sure doesn't seem like nothing, Naruto." I watched him look at the hair carefully and I licked my lips in nervousness. "It does seem like garbage though."

"No!" I screamed and he jumped back a little, looking at me in shock. "No, please don't throw it out. Please." I hated how I was begging but I couldn't imagine not being able to feel Tama's hair, and remember him before he was sick. I felt tears fall from my eyes and my lip begin to tremble.

"Then tell me, what is this?"

"I-its Tama's hair. It came out when I was playing with his hair. It just reminds me of before he was sick." I looked back up at him with pleading eyes. "Please don't throw it out, Sasuke."

He looked me over, staying silent before letting out a small sigh and handing it back over to me. I quickly grabbed it and pressed it against my cheek, feeling a lot more calm. "This isn't healthy, Naruto. And you need to see Tama, he needs and misses you."

I sighed as I slowly pulled the hair away, placing it back under my pillow. "I know. It's just so hard to see him like that. It's breaking my heart."

"Stop being so selfish, Naruto." Sasuke almost shouted. "This isn't like you at all. The Naruto I know, would make sure Tama doesn't feel that pain. He would be there for Suki too, making her comfortable with seeing her brother. Tama is apologizing to me every night, telling me to text you saying he's sorry for getting sick and that he misses you. Suki can barely say more than hi and goodbye to him. Naruto, they both need you, the real you. And I need you too."

By the end of him talking, I was crying, practically in hysterics. I didn't even think of how the twins were feeling and it hurt to know that they were in so much pain. "I'm so sorry, Sasuke! I don't mean to cause them so much pain." I wiped at my face and quickly stood up, swaying a bit. "Let's go visit them now."

I took a step and nearly fell, feeling insanely dizzy. Sasuke was there by my side, quickly helping me to get my balance.

"Woah, hold on, Iruka and Kakashi are there. It's Valentine's Day and I wanted to spend it with just you. Tomorrow, you can visit as long as you want, okay?" I nodded. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, that nap left me feeling a little dizzy. That's all."

He nodded and took a step back from me, holding me by the shoulders. I watched as his eyes wandered over my body and I felt myself blush under his gaze.

"Have you been eating?"

"What?" I looked at him, confused.

"You look like you lost some weight."

I looked down at myself, I could just barely see the tiny bulge where the baby was. "I don't think so. I think my belly is just too distracting." I started to giggle and he smirked at my response.

"Well let's go get some food into you anyways. What do you want?"

"Ramen!"

"Naruto, Kiba said no ramen."

I groaned at him as he threw some clothes at me. "But Sasuke! I already passed the first trimester." I pouted as I sat down on the bed, holding the clothes to my chest.

"Until Kiba says you're in the clear to eat that crap, you can't have any." He threw a towel next to me and I glared down at it.

"What are you trying to say, huh? That I stink?"

Sasuke faced me, a smirk on his face. "Yeah I am." He crossed his arms over his chest. "But I wouldn't mind keeping you company in there either." He stood in front of me, leaning down and wrapping his arms around me, giving my neck little nips and kisses. I laughed out loud at the feeling.

"Of course you wouldn't, you little pervert." I gently pushed him off and he gave me a frown. I headed into the bathroom and stuck my head out. "Now get in here before I change my mind." I laughed loudly as his version of a pout was replaced with a smirk as he hurried into the bathroom with me.

"I don't know what I want." I pouted at the menu in my hands. "None of this sounds good." I placed the menu on the table and looked hopefully at Sasuke who sat across from me.

I saw him roll his eyes behind his own menu as he lowered it to look at me. "You're the one who picked this place."

I looked around the restaurant, the fine Italian atmosphere was nice. I faced towards him once again. "I thought this could be the closest thing to ramen without breaking Kiba's stupid rule."

"You can't possibly tell me that ramen is the only thing that you want to eat."

"It might as well be." I leaned my cheek against my fist as I opened up the menu again, trying to decide on something.

I felt Sasuke's eyes at me and I briefly glanced up at him. "What are you looking at, bastard?"

I tried to stifle a giggle as I saw Sasuke's eyebrow twitch in irritation.

"You're not hungry?"

"No. Not really." I grabbed a breadstick that was placed on the table and nibbled on it. "These are pretty good. I'll eat these."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and pulled the basket away as I reached for two more. "I'm not going to let you fill up on breadsticks."

I threw up my hands in surrender and once again reached for the menu. "Fine. You know what? I'll go with the fettuccine alfredo with shrimp." I nodded, feeling confident in my choice and smiled brightly at Sasuke.

Sasuke was looking at me, his head resting on his fist. He gave me a small smile. "I really love you."

I felt my face my darken in a blush and I turned away from him. "I really love you too."

"You're so beautiful." I felt his hand on mine and I looked at him as he pulled my hand towards his lips and placed a kiss on my knuckles.

I felt my face get darker. "You're being so sweet and adorable. What's going on?" I narrowed my eyes at him as I slowly pulled my hand back.

He let out a chuckle. "Nothing's going on. I just wanted you to know how much you mean to me."

I gave him a smile. "Thank you Sasuke, you mean so much to me too."

The waiter came and took our orders and waited patiently for our food. We talked until our food came.

When I looked down at my plate, I felt my appetite once again leave me. I looked up at Sasuke to see him eating slowly, watching me. I gave him a small smile before reluctantly picking up my fork and taking a bit of pasta, twirling it. I brought the fork to my mouth and began to chew. I felt the urge to gag but I quickly shook my head to rid the feeling.

"Is it good?" I quickly looked up at Sasuke, almost forgetting he was even here, too wrapped up in my thoughts and trying not to spit out the food.

"Yeah." I swallowed what little I had in my mouth and nodded. "Yeah, it's really good."

"You sure?" He raised an eyebrow. "Cause it didn't really seem like it."

"No, it's pretty good. You wanna try some?" I scooped some onto the fork and quickly brought it to his mouth. He reluctantly opened his mouth and ate the food.

"You're right, it is good." He nodded. "You wanna try some of mine?"

I looked at the plate and felt my stomach churn in disgust. "What is it?"

"Chicken parmigiano."

"No thanks." I twirled the pasta on my fork, leaning my head in my hand.

"Are you sure you're okay, Naruto?"

I stopped playing with my food and looked at Sasuke. I felt a pang in my chest as I looked at the genuine concern that was apparent on his face. I sat up straight and smiled brightly at him. "I'm good. I'm still just thinking about Tama." I took another bite of my food despite my stomach protesting, hoping to convince Sasuke.

He seemed to believe me as he nodded and started to eat his food once again.

After he finished eating, and I managed to eat a little more than a quarter of my food, we boxed up the leftovers and paid.

"Now, what?" I asked as we walked out the building, hand in hand.

"Let's go for a walk." He replied giving me a small nudge with his elbow.

"Yeah? To where?"

He gestured with his head and looked to see the Brooklyn Bridge a couple blocks ahead of us.

"You want to walk the Bridge?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Not the whole thing of course. But wouldn't it be nice to revisit the place where we had our first kiss?"

I leaned against him, my head resting on his shoulder. "It would. Let's go!"

We walked towards the bridge, the large arches getting taller as we got closer. There were a lot of couples walking along the path, despite it being chilly out.

We kept walking until suddenly Sasuke stopped, pulling me into his chest. I blinked up at him, confused. He then captured my lips in a kiss and my eyes widened in surprise but then I quickly closed them, kissing him back.

After the kiss, he held me in his arms and we stood there, relishing in each other's presence.

"I don't want to let you go." I whispered into his neck. "I want to stand here forever."

I felt Sasuke's finger slowly run down the middle of my spine, causing small shivers to run through me. "Well we can't stay here forever, but I don't mind standing here for the rest of the night."

I gently pushed myself off of him, looking up into his eyes. His expression was the same emotionless expression but I could see that his eyes had the tiniest spark of happiness and I smiled back at him. "You know, that sounds really good."

I watched his eyes narrow in suspicion as I let the mischievous tone become apparent in my words. I gave him a smirk. "I was actually hoping to be ravished by you for the rest of the night," I felt his body tense and had to suppress a giggle. "But since you suggested it, standing here does sound a lot better." I wrapped myself around him again.

"Naruto, let's go." Sasuke practically growled out.

"Hm?" I looked back up at him, playing dumb. "Go where? I thought you wanted to stay here all night?"

He leaned down so our foreheads were touching and I could see the lust apparent in his eyes. "If you don't think that I will pick you up and carry you back home so that I can ravish you, you're wrong. I'm just giving you the opportunity to be able to walk for the last time in a while."

I let out a laugh at the seriousness of his tone and gave him a quick kiss before I pushed him away and began to walk away. "You'll have to catch me first!" I shouted over my shoulder.

I began to laugh as he chased after me. I got as far as the end of the bridge before I felt his arms wrap around me.

"Gotcha, now let's go home."

The next morning, Sasuke and I got ready together. I had an appointment with my ob-gyn, Hinata, Kiba's wife, before I was going to see Tama.

We climbed into Sasuke's car and drove the quick 15 mins to the hospital. We parked in the garage and walked into the building, hand in hand.

"So I'll meet you in Tama's room later today, okay?" Sasuke stopped me as we were about to part ways.

I nodded and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you later."

"I love you, I'll want details on your appointment today."

I nodded again and watched him walk down the hallway. I took a deep breath before heading to the elevators.

I got off and walked into the waiting room just as I saw Hinata walk in from the examination rooms. She looked at me and smiled, waving me over.

"Hey Naruto, long time no see, huh?" She shuffled through some folders that were sitting on the counter. She looked at one carefully and pulled it out.

"Yeah it's been awhile. Were you enjoying maternity leave?" I asked her as she gestured for me to follow her.

She let out a laugh. "You have no idea." She stopped in front of the door, her hand on the doorknob before she turned to face me. "You don't mind if Kiba's in here, do you?"

I shook my head. "As long as you two won't be making out like I'm not here." I chuckled as I watched her face turn a bright red.

The door opened and both me and Hinata jumped in fright. Kiba was leaning against the door frame. "That was one time, blondie. It's not gonna happen again."

"Sure, sure." I chuckled once again as I followed Hinata into the room.

"Kiba, take his vitals while I just finish up with my last patient." Hinata nodded at him as she left and closed the door.

"You heard the lady, let's do this." Kiba said turning to me.

I rolled my eyes but nodded at him anyways.

"First things first, let's do your blood pressure first." He grabbed the cuffs and I held out my arm to him. After finishing the test, he looked at me and smiled. "Seems like your pressure is going down. That's a good sign."

"So I can eat ramen now?" I asked hopefully.

He gave me a look before letting out a sigh. "Technically, yes. But don't go overboard."

"I need that in writing. Sasuke refuses to let me have any without permission from you." I gave him a stare as he laughed. "I'm not kidding Kiba, this is serious."

"Alright, I'll let him know." He grabbed the folder that Hinata left behind and wrote something in it. "To be honest, I'm surprised you didn't try to have any while he's here at the hospital."

"Yeah, I haven't been feeling all that hungry really." I said with a shrug.

Kiba stopped his writing and looked up at me. I stared back at him as a frown began to form on his face. "You don't feel hungry? No cravings or anything?"

I looked down at my lap, fiddling with my hands. "No. If anything the sight of food makes me sick."

Kiba hummed in response before writing again in the folder. "Okay, let's take your weight. Take everything out your pockets and take off your shoes."

I did as he said and followed him to the scale that was in the corner of the room. "Must be nice to have a scale in the examination room, doesn't it?" I snickered.

He gave me a glare as I stepped onto the scale. "Keep your mouth shut, blondie." He watched the numbers on the digital scale move before his frown became deeper as they stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"You've lost ten pounds."

I swallowed audibly as I stepped off the scale. "H-how bad is that?"

He turned to face me. "Let's wait for Hinata to get back before discussing anything."

Just as he finished his sentence, Hinata came through the door, a big smile on her face. "How is everything going?"

We looked at each other before Kiba cleared his throat, taking a step closer to her. "Well, it seems like Naruto has lost weight. Ten pounds to be exact."

The smile from earlier left her face, replaced by a slight frown. "I see."

"Is it really that bad?" I spoke up. "I hear people lose weight when pregnant all the time."

"Normally it's okay, especially if you're eating right and exercising." Hinata sat down in her chair. "But your last two pregnancies ended in miscarriage, which means you're already more prone to losing the baby or having a premature birth."

I looked down at my lap, resting my hand on the small bump of my belly. The familiar wave of guilt causing me to become nauseous. "O-okay, I'll eat more. Just, please don't tell Sasuke about this, please." I looked nervously at the two of them.

I watched as they looked at each other and Kiba let out a sigh. "We won't tell him, but it would be best for him to know what's going on, Naruto."

I nodded, wiping my eyes as I felt tears begin to fall. "I know. He just has so much on his plate, having to worry about me is unnecessary."

"It's his job to worry about you, Naruto." Hinata placed her hand on my leg in an effort to comfort me. "You don't need to take this all on your own."

I nodded. "I know. If things don't get better next time I see you, I promise to tell him."

Hinata gave me a small smile before standing up. "Sounds like a plan. Now, let's take an ultrasound, make sure everything is A-OK."

"Make sure to give me a copy or Sasuke will be hounding on you until you do."

"Will do." Hinata replied with a laugh.

After my appointment, everything with the baby was fine, I head to the cancer center, feeling nervous.

As I approached Tama's room, I felt the urge to flee. I wasn't ready to see him, probably much worse than I remembered him. I stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath.

As I walked into the doorway, I could just barely hear the tv. I looked at the bed and my eyes started to water.

Tama looked smaller than I remember, he was pale and his bright blonde hair seemed to have greyed and was patchy across his head. He was staring at the tv, almost unmoving except for the slight rise and fall of his chest.

"Tama?" I softly called out.

He turned to face me, his eyes wide. He stared at me shocked, before a large smile broke out on his face. "Papa!" His voice sounded hoarse. He sat up and I saw a look of pain flash across his face. "Papa you're here!"

I nodded and walked into the room, pulling up the chair next to his bedside. "Yes I am baby, I'm so sorry I wasn't here for you."

Tama looked down at his lap. "It's okay. I know you don't want me to be sick, Papa."

"Tama it's not your fault okay." He nodded and I gently grasped his chin, he turned to look at me and I could see the pain and sadness in his eyes. "It's my fault Tama. I was being selfish and that's not fair to you. I want you to know that I'm going to be here for you from now on, okay? So don't ever feel bad for being sick."

Tama nodded his head and looked at me, a small smile spreading across his face. "Okay, Papa."

I began to gently run my finger across his forehead and started to smile as he closed his eyes, relaxing.

There was a knock on the door and I turned to see Sai standing in the doorway. "Hello, Naruto. It's nice to see you."

"Hello, Dr. Shimura." I stood up and moved out of his way as he came closer.

"Please, call me Sai." He came closer and looked down at Tama. "Hi Tama, how you feelin?"

"Better than yesterday." Tama replied. "Papa's here so that makes everything better!" He smiled brightly at the two of us and I blushed as Sai laughed.

"That's good to hear! Now you ready to start your chemo today?"

Tama nodded.

I quickly grabbed Sai's arm. "Is it okay if I bring in a razor to shave his head?"

Sai gave me a smile and nodded. "Go right ahead."

"Okay, give me a sec." I waited till he was standing a bit away before leaning down over him. "Hey Tama, do you want me to shave off your hair? You can have a new look to show off to Daddy and Suki."

Tama's eyes brightened and he touched the top of his head. "Do you think they'll like it?"

I smiled at him. "I know they'll love it!"

"Okay!"

"Alright, I'll be back in a little bit okay?" He gave me a nod and I turned to face Sai. "Thank you."

I walked out the room and headed home to get the razor.

By the time I came back, after sneaking in some McDonald's for me and Tama, Sai was just finishing up with Tama.

"Alright Tama, all done! I'll see you later, okay?"

Tama nodded tiredly and I said my goodbyes to Sai.

"I brought you some lunch." I pulled out a McDonald's happy meal for him and my own bag filled with fries.

"McDonald's!" He laughed happily.

"I bet Daddy never got you some, huh?" I smiled at him as I handed him the box.

"Nope. Daddy makes me eat the gross food they have here." He reached inside the box and pulled out the toy. "But I'm not usually hungry anyways."

I began to munch on my fries. "The medicine makes you too sick to eat, huh?"

He nodded as he took out his nuggets. "Yeah but Daddy's always there to make me feel better."

I nodded my head. "How often are you alone?"

He hummed as he ate a fry. "Not very often. Usually Daddy or Sai or Neji are here. Sometimes a nurse comes and keeps me company."

"Well that's good to hear." I smiled at him. "What about Suki?"

He paused in his eating. "She doesn't talk to me a lot. I talk to her but she doesn't say anything. Is she sad that I'm sick too?"

I finished my last fry and scooted my chair closer to the bed, placing my hand on his leg. "She's a little sad that you're sick but she still loves you Tama. She just doesn't like to see you in pain so it's hard for her to see that."

Tama was silent for a moment before he looked up at me. "Maybe I should smile more."

I laughed before shaking my head. "Maybe, but don't worry, I'll talk with her, okay?" He nodded and went back to eating. I pulled out the razor from my bag. "Once you're done, we'll give you a whole new look, okay?"

"Okay!"

At three thirty, Iruka and Suki came into the room, followed by Sasuke.

"Papa!" Suki ran into the room and climbed onto my lap. I hugged her tightly and gently rocked her.

"Suki, I've missed you so much." I gave her a light peck on the forehead.

"Daddy, Iruka, Suki, look what Papa did for me! Do you like it?" Tama excitedly pointed at his newly shaven head.

"It suits you." Iruka replied with a smile.

"It sure does. I like it." Sasuke walked over and rubbed his head.

I looked down at Suki who was now sitting on my lap, the excitement gone. I gently brushed her hair back. "Suki, how do you feel about Tama's new look?"

Tama looked at her hopefully and she gave him a brief look before looking up at me. She then looked back at Tama before smiling. "I like it too."

Soon enough, the twins began to talk again and Suki climbed off my lap to sit on his bed.

"So how'd your appointment go?" Sasuke asked as he brought over two folded chairs for himself and Iruka.

"Kiba says I can have ramen again. I even told him to give it to you in writing in case you don't believe." I snickered as he rolled his eyes and Iruka chuckled. "Also, Hinata gave me this." I handed the ultrasound to him. "It's a boy."

I watched as Iruka and Sasuke looked over it fondly and I felt another wave of guilt wash over me for not telling Sasuke the truth. I cleared my throat and turned to Iruka. "I'm ready to take Suki back home now."

Iruka gave me a slight frown. "Are you sure? I don't mind keeping her a bit longer."

I gave the both of them a bright smile. "I'm positive. I feel a lot better now."


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, everything that I use to do routinely; getting Suki up and dressed, making her breakfast and packing her lunch, seemed to be twice as hard than I remembered.

"Papa, are you okay?" Suki asked me as she sat patiently at the table.

My head and body felt sluggish. I turned from the stove to give her a quick smile. "Of course, Suki. I'm still just a little tired, that's all."

"I don't have to eggs for breakfast."

"Really Suki, it's okay, tomorrow will be better though, I promise." I placed her eggs and toast on a plate and set it in front of her. I took a seat at the table and watched her eat with a small smile on my face.

"Are you gonna eat, Papa?"

"I will after I drop you off, I don't want to make you late."

She finished her food and gave me a big smile. "I'm all finished!"

"Alright, place your dish in the sink." I slowly stood up so that I wouldn't get dizzy, and grabbed Suki's lunch box off the counter. "You have your backpack and homework?"

"Yep!" Suki turned around to show me her bag.

We walked out of the apartment and headed in the direction of the school. As we reached the school, I felt my stomach begin to churn.

"Naruto! Hello!" Suki's teacher greeted as we walked inside and to her classroom. "I hope you're feeling better now. Iruka told me the morning sickness was pretty bad."

I chuckled lightly. Suki saw one of her friends and quickly said bye to me and I watched her go. "To be honest, it's still kind of bad. Which way to the restroom?"

She pointed down the hall and I waved goodbye before hurriedly walking to the bathroom.

I went into a stall and bent over the toilet.

After I was finished I washed up and started my walk back home.

I walked into the kitchen as soon as I got home. I opened the cupboard and took out a premade meal replacement shake.

I opened the can and took a sip, nearly gagging at the taste. I took a deep breath and chugged the drink. It took a moment of deep breathing for me to feel confident enough that it was going to come back up.

I decided I was going to be productive and work on my book. I headed into my studio and began to type.

I was making some good progress for about twenty minutes when I began to feel nauseous. I paused in my typing, staying still to let the feeling pass.

It didn't pass and I soon found myself running to the bathroom and throwing up the shake. I sat down next to the toilet, trying to catch my breath. I felt shaky and tired.

I just couldn't understand why I was feeling like this. I had the urge to text Sasuke but I quickly shook it away.

After sitting for a little bit I attempted to stand. My vision blurred and my hearing felt like I was underwater. I quickly sat back down, closing my eyes. I took a couple deep breaths and reopened them.

I pulled out my phone and set an alarm for two-thirty. "Looks like I'll be here for a while." I said out loud. Sighing, I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes, hoping to fall asleep quickly.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off. I opened my eyes and blinked to clear the fogginess of sleep. I looked around me, confused before remembering that I decided to nap in the bathroom.

My head was hurting and I gently rubbed my temples before making an attempt to stand.

The dizziness wasn't as bad as earlier and the shakiness I felt earlier was gone as well. I headed into the bedroom and quickly got ready to pick up Suki.

I arrived at the school just in time for Suki and one of her friends to walk out the front door. I smiled and waved at her and she said bye to her friend before running to me.

"Hi Papa!" She greeted me, grabbing onto my leg.

"Hi baby." I ran my hand through her hair. "You ready to go see Tama and Daddy?"

She nodded her head. "Are we going to take the subway?"

I smiled down at her and held out my hand for her to take. "If you want too."

She nodded, a big smile on her face.

We headed to the subway entrance. I stood at the top of the stairs, looking down. I felt my legs start to tremble and my vision was beginning to blur. I leaned against the railing, closing my eyes.

"Papa?" I opened my eyes to see Suki at the bottom of the first flight of stairs, looking up at me with curious eyes.

I tried to smile at her but more so felt myself grimace. "Give me a second, Suki."

I watched her climb back up the stairs, stopping at the step in front of me. "Are you okay, Papa?"

"Yeah, I just feel a little dizzy." I closed my eyes once again, hoping the feeling would pass.

"We can take the elevator down."

I sighed and nodded at her. I felt her hand grab onto mine and I opened my eyes to see her guiding me towards the elevator. "Thank you, baby."

We reached the platform after swiping in and taking the other elevator. The platform was crowded and our train was coming.

As we entered the train, we managed to find seats. I held her against me as the train left the station.

"You remember the stop we have to get off?" I asked her as I felt my eyelids flutter close.

I heard her giggle. "Yes Papa. You can go to sleep if you want too."

I did my best to smile back at her but I felt myself drift off soon after.

Suki shook me awake in what felt like thirty seconds. "Our stop is next Papa."

"Thank you, Suki." I yawned.

We got off and took the elevators up to the street. We then walked the short block to the hospital and walked inside.

We headed to Tama's room to see Neji and Sasuke in the room, standing at the foot of Tama's bed while Tama was sleeping.

"Dr. Neji!" Suki called out. "Daddy!"

The two of them looked up and waved at her, Sasuke flashed me a small smile until Suki ran to him, latching onto his leg.

"Hey Naruto, how's everything going?" Neji asked.

"Everything's going good, just a little tired." I sat in the chair that was next to Tama's bed and lightly began to stroke his head.

"Yeah, we had to take the elevators on the subways." Suki spoke up. I saw Sasuke frown and I quickly gave my attention to Tama.

"You sure you're okay?" Neji stood next to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I can get Kiba or Hinata to check up on you if you want me too."

"No, I'm okay, really. They both know I've been tired lately. They just told me to get more rest." I quickly lied, hoping that would stop the questions. I saw both Neji and Sasuke visibly relax at the mention of Kiba and Hinata and internally sighed in relief.

"Good to hear. I'll leave you all alone then." He waved goodbye and walked out of the room.

The room was filled with a comfortable silence until we heard rustling from the bed. Tama blinked his eyes open and smiled at the room. "Hi Papa, hi Suki." He yawned and sat up. He turned to look at me. "Did you bring McDonald's?"

I sheepishly laughed as Sasuke turned to glare at me and Suki gave me a pout.

"Papa, I want McDonald's!" She ran to me, throwing her arms into my lap.

I ran my fingers through her hair. "Sure, we can have it for dinner." She gave me a nod and climbed onto the bed, bringing her bag with her.

I stood up and walked to the bathroom, Sasuke following behind me.

"He's not supposed to be eating stuff like that." He leaned against the sink, crossing his arms across his chest.

I sat on top of the toilet, lazily rubbing my stomach. "I know. He just looked so sad, I wanted to cheer him up a bit. I won't do it again."

He stared at me before letting out a sigh. "Next time, just ask one of us first, okay?" He gave me a small smile and I giggled.

"Yeah, I will." He stood up and held out his hand for me to take. I grabbed onto it and stood up.

Or tried too.

I felt the room spin and my legs buckled from under me. I fell back onto the toilet and closed my eyes.

"Naruto?!" I heard Sasuke shouting.

I tried to open my eyes but all I saw were black spots. My head began to throb and I mumbled something incoherent to Sasuke.

"Hold on a second, stay right here!"

I nodded my head but quickly shut my eyes soon after. I heard the water turn on and soon felt something cool and wet on my lips.

"Drink it, Naruto."

"Daddy?" I looked up and saw Suki through my blurred vision.

"Suki, go back out there with Tama." I heard Sasuke's voice call out to her.

"Is Papa okay?" I heard her voice a little closer.

"Suki!" Sasuke shouted and I quickly put my hand on his arm.

As best as I could, I gave her a big smile and looked at her. "Suki, I'm just feeling a little sick. Daddy's trying to help me, so can you please go back out with Tama to make sure he's okay?"

I saw her nod and she slowly left the room.

I breathed out a sigh of relief before I felt nauseous and immediately threw up on the floor.

"Naruto, what's going on?" Sasuke whispered to me, rubbing my thigh as he looked up at me.

I tried to give him my brightest smile. "I just still have morning sickness. It's not going away."

He still had a frown on his face.

"This happens every time I have to throw up." I lied. I sat up straight and stood up, my legs were a little shaky and I felt mildly dizzy. "See look, I'm all better now." I took the cup of water he placed on the counter and took a couple sips.

He soon stood up and pulled me closer to himself. "You scared me."

"I'm sorry. I'm okay though, really." I pushed away from him, giving him a small smile.

He nodded before placing a gentle kiss on my forehead.

We walked back into the room and enjoyed the next couple of hours with Tama and Sasuke.

On the way home, we stopped to eat at McDonald's that I promised Suki. She had her happy meal, and I could only eat an order of fries.

As we walked back home, I felt more and more tired. By the time we reached our apartment, I felt out of breath.

"Papa, are you okay?" Suki asked once we got inside and I sat down on the couch.

"Yeah baby, I'm just a little tired, that's all." I gave her a tired smile and she nervously stood in front of me. "What's wrong?"

"I need help with some of my homework." She pulled out her bag from behind her and looked at me hopefully.

"Of course I can help you!" I sat up straighter and patted the spot on the couch next to me.

I helped her finish the last of her homework and then got her ready for bed.

As I climbed into my own bed, I texted Sasuke my goodnights before falling asleep.

The next morning, I woke up feeling sluggish. Sitting up caused my vision to blur and my head to throb painfully. I hissed at the pain and sat on the edge of the bed, putting pressure on my temples to help get rid of the pain.

After a few minutes of sitting there and the pain not going away, I knew I had to start my day.

I woke up Suki before heading into my own room and getting dressed.

I made Suki's lunch and set it on the table and began to start breakfast.

The heat from the stove top began to affect me. I felt myself heating up and breathing heavily. The headache started to get worse and my vision started to blur.

I quickly turned off the stove, hoping to lie down for a second.

Suki came into the kitchen just as I turned around. "I'm done getting ready, Papa."

"Alright, I'm feeling a little sick so I'm going to lie down for a minute and then I'll get you breakfast, okay?" I took a step and felt my leg try to buckle under the weight. I grabbed onto the chair in front of me to regain my balance.

"Are you going to be okay?"

I nodded at Suki's question and let go of the chair to continue moving to the living room.

It was the wrong move. I soon found myself beginning to fall. I heard Suki call out to me just before everything went black.


	6. Chapter 6

I opened my eyes to a dimly lit room. I blinked rapidly to try and clear the fog so I could see better. My head was throbbing painfully and one of my arms felt sore. I turned my head to see my arms were connected to IV's and that I was lying in a hospital bed. I turned the other way to see Sasuke sitting in a chair sleeping, awkwardly positioned.

I sighed lightly before attempting to sit up. Nausea and a wave of dizziness hit me, causing my head to throb more. I groaned in pain and tried to push through it.

"Naruto?"

I stopped in fright and fell back down, groaning again at the pain. I turned to face Sasuke who was now looking over me. I gave him a small smile. "Hey."

He was silent until a dark glare overcame his face. "Hey? That's all you have to say?"

My eyes widened in mild shock at the harsh tone and I turned my head, not being able to look him in the eyes.

"I was in the middle of an examination when I get a frantic nurse running in here to tell me my daughter was on the phone, crying. Suki told me you fell to the ground and weren't waking up. I had to get Neji to call Iruka to come get her since she was too scared to get off the phone." He leaned forward in the chair and I met his eyes briefly to see all the emotions in his eyes. I felt tears begin to fall from my eyes. "I was so fucking worried, Naruto. I met you at the doors when the ambulance brought you in. I didn't know what was wrong with you. But then, Hinata and Kiba came and I can easily see that they knew exactly what was wrong." He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. When he looked back at me, I saw his eyes were wet. "Why didn't you tell me, Naruto? Why didn't you tell me you haven't been eating in weeks?"

I felt my throat tighten and I clenched my fists tightly, trying to keep my emotions in check. "I- I didn't want to bother you."

"Fuck, Naruto!" He stood up quickly and began to pace by the side of my bed. "This isn't about just you, you're carrying my child too! If something's wrong, tell me! I could be there to help you! Or tell Iruka, or Kakashi. One of our brother's even, hell our parents! Just let someone know."

I stayed silent still, unable to say anything.

"You have nothing to say? Out of all the times that you keep your mouth shut, you choose now? Just what the fuck are you thinking about?"

I wanted to shout at him, to tell him he already had so much on his plate, I didn't want to add more. I wanted to be angry and smug, telling him now he knows how it feels all those years ago when he held in everything when he thought we couldn't have kids. But something was keeping my mouth shut and I still didn't say anything.

He stopped and stood in front of me. "Well, since you're not saying anything, I might as well update you on what's going to happen."

I slowly lifted my head to look at him.

"Suki will be staying with Iruka until further notice. I called your parents and Kyuubi and let them know what's going on. You'll be staying at the hospital until you're deemed healthy enough to go home." He went into doctor mode as soon as he started talking, his eyes blank.

I nodded, letting him know I heard him.

He began to walk towards the door but stopped just before opening it. "You may think that you were helping me, Naruto. But having to go through this and scaring Suki, it's a whole lot worse." He didn't say anything else and I watched him leave the room, closing the door with a soft click.

I don't remember falling asleep after Sasuke left, but I heard voices in my room, causing me to wake up.

I opened my eyes to see Kyuubi and my parents gathered in the room with Hinata.

"Hey everyone, where's the party?" I tried to sit up, I had less difficulty than before.

I watched them all turn to face me and my mom quickly ran to my bedside, already in tears.

"Naruto! My poor baby, is everything okay?" She wrapped her arms around me tightly and began to sob loudly.

"Mom, please!" I groaned in her hold. It was so tight, my sore arm was beginning to throb. "My arm."

"You really had us worries for a second." My dad walked over to the bed and gently grasped my mom by her shoulders.

I sadly smiled at the two of them. "I'm sorry for worrying you guys."

"Naruto," I looked towards Hinata who was now standing at the foot of my bed. I gave a quick glance towards Kyuubi, who was standing by the window, his arms crossed over his chest, before giving my attention back to Hinata. "I explained to them what's going on and what's going to happen from here on out. I just need to go over it with you."

I nodded my head.

"You'll be staying here and put on fluids and nutrients. Starting tomorrow we'll be making a healthy diet plan that you'll need to follow until the baby is born. Now, whether or not you'll go home is all on you. If all goes according to plan, you should be back home before a week before Tama."

"I have to stay here for three weeks?" I looked at her shocked.

She smiled at me grimly. "Naruto, you were very malnourished, and pregnant. From the the tests we ran so far, it hasn't affected the baby but that's just very lucky on your part."

"But it's not like I didn't eat on purpose! I got sick every time I did try to eat. I even tried those meal replacement shakes."

I watched her exchange a look with my parents before looking back at me again.

"Now, I may be wrong about this but, I think it was just the stress and maybe even a bit of depression that was really stopping you from eating."

I scrunched up my nose. "Depression? I don't think I'm depressed. And my last appointment I was cleared from the whole stress issue, so it shouldn't be that either."

"Naruto." My mother hissed at me. "Just listen to her!"

"Stress works in many ways, Naruto. Lots of people can have regular blood pressure but still not be able to eat or eat too much, sleep too much or not enough."

I mulled over the things she said in my head before letting out a sigh. I looked up at her and nodded. "Alright. I understand. I'll do my best."

"Okay good! I'll let you rest up today, catch up with family and we'll see each other tomorrow." She smiled brightly at the room before waving and walking out the door.

"Can I talk with Naruto alone?"

The three of us looked to face Kyuubi. My parents looked at each other before turning to look at me.

"Yeah, we'll go visit Tama." I watched my dad guide my mom out the room and they shut the door behind them.

The room was silent, filled with an awkward silence. I coughed lightly to break the silence. "So, you have a little less than 3 months, huh?"

He nodded his head, not saying anything more.

"So, um, what did you want to talk about?" I asked once the silence got to be too much.

Kyuubi walked over to my bed and sat on the edge. I reached out and gently placed my hand on his belly. "Just about what's going on with you."

I avoided eye contact with him, keeping my gaze on his stomach. "If you're going to lecture me, Sasuke already beat you to it."

"Naruto." I looked at him to see a look of disappointment on his face. "I'm not going to lecture you. Though I really should. I just want to know what's going on."

I sighed before slowly lying down. "There's just so much, Kyuu. I don't even know where to begin."

He leaned down, lying above my legs and propping his head in his hands. "I have all the time in the world. Just start from where you want too."

I sighed and gave him an annoyed look. He gave me a smile in return and I rolled my eyes. "I've just been stressed. With Tama being sick and me being pregnant, especially with the risk of miscarrying, I feel like I have so much to deal with."

"But that's what Sasuke's there for." Kyuubi pointed out.

I scoffed. "Technically, but he's dealing with it all too and also the pressures from work. And it was so minor at first, I figured I could've dealt with it on my own."

Kyuubi raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that you're kind of doing what Sasuke did to you before the twins were born?"

"Yes. But I was still at least talking to him, even if it wasn't about my problems."

"And that's how it starts. He was still talking to you but then he started to stay late at work and then he wasn't talking to you at all. Now, I remember the whole story, but weren't you avoiding him, and Tama, earlier this month?"

I crossed my arms over my chest and looked away. "It was making me sad that our family was being split. I didn't want to avoid them."

"And he didn't realize he was hurting you too when he threw himself into his work."

I scowled at him before gently tapping his leg with my foot. "Why are you taking his side anyways!"

He laughed before sitting up. "I'm not taking his side. I'm just pointing out the logic behind both of your situations since you're too dense to figure it out."

"Shut up." I glared as he stood from my bed. "I already knew that anyways."

"Mhm, sure." He gave me a smirk. "Just talk to him and apologize. He just wants you to be healthy and happy, Naruto."

"I know." I looked down at my lap and sighed before looking back up at him and giving him a small smile. "Thanks Kyuu."

"Anytime, Naru." He kissed the top of my head and ruffled my hair. "I'll see you around. You want me to get mom and dad?"

I shook my head. "Nah. I'm just going to take a nap or something."

"Alright, love you."

"Love you too." I watched him leave and sighed deeply before closing my eyes and drifting to sleep.

It was late when I woke up again. I heard a click coming from the door and heard soft voices coming from it.

"I think he's still asleep." It was Sasuke.

Another muffled voice spoke, I wasn't able to make them out but they sounded male.

"Thanks Kiba, I'll see you tomorrow."

I stayed facing away from the door as I heard it shut. Sasuke's footsteps echoed throughout the room as he got closer to my bed. "Naruto?"

For whatever reason, I didn't answer him, instead still feigning sleep.

He let out a sigh and I heard the soft scrape of the chair as he brought it over to my bedside.

I felt his fingers begin to run through my hair and I closed my eyes at the feeling.

"Naruto you stupid idiot." I heard him whisper and I opened my eyes, scowling at the wall. "Why do you have to worry me so much?"

I stopped scowling, my eyes widening. I felt guilt wash over me and I fought the urge to turn around and embrace him, hoping to hear what else he had to say.

I heard him sigh and his fingers stopped at the back of my head. "I love you so much, Naruto. I just want you and the twins to be happy." I felt his hand leave my head and soon felt it run lightly over my abdomen l. "And now our little boy."

I scrunched my nose in confusion. His voice sounded, different. I couldn't quite place it.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto." My eyes once again widened at the confession and then the realization. Sasuke was crying. I felt my own eyes begin to water and I tried to hold in the sobs that were threatening to start.

"I wish I could just fix all of this. I want Tama to get better, and you too. I want Suki to not feel so isolated, either. I want us to be a happy family again. I just don't know how and I'm so sorry."

I couldn't fight it anymore. I turned around, facing him, the tears pouring down my face. I grabbed onto his arm and gently pulled him close to me. He began to silently cry, his shoulders occasionally shaking. I gently rocked him in my hold, trying to calm my own tears.

"It's okay Sasuke." I began, my voice a little shaky. "I'm not blaming you, not everything is going to be perfect with us, and that's okay. Just know that I'll always love you and I'm always here for you. We'll get through this together. I promise. I love you so much, Sasuke."

We stayed together like that for what felt like hours. He calmed down pretty quickly but I still held him in my arms, not wanting to let go. It was rare for Sasuke to be so open like this, I didn't want to let go until I knew he was okay.

Soon enough, he gently pulled away, his eyes slightly red and tear marks staining his cheeks. He used his fingers to wipe at his eyes and I gave him a smile.

"You have a beautiful crying face, Sasuke." I laughed as he gave me a glare, the look being not as effective with the remains of his crying.

"Shut up." The corner of his mouth started to twitch and I began to giggle.

"What about Tama?" I suddenly asked. I knew Sasuke normally stayed with him during the night.

He shrugges before leaning back in his chair. "I told him you were going to be staying here for a little bit. And I asked if it was okay if I stayed the night with you. He was okay with it, he wanted to come too of course, but I told him when he got better he could stay."

I smiled at the image of a pouting Tama before sighing and running my hand through my hair. "I feel so bad for Suki. She probably feels so alone and scared. I can't believe I just passed out in front of her."

I watched him lean casually against the armrest as he looked at nothing in particular. "She's a very strong and brave girl. She's smart too. Honestly, I'm glad that she could be there. Who knows how long you would've been like that if she wasn't."

I nodded and smiled at him. "She takes so much after you."

"Tama is just like you too." Sasuke said, a small smile on his face. "He acts so strong when you know he wants to cry too." He grabbed my hand and I stared into his eyes. "We make beautiful children."

I gave him a wide grin, squeezing his hand in agreement. "Damn right we do!" He let go of my hand with a chuckle but I quickly grabbed it again. He raised an eyebrow in question. "Sleep with me. I miss you."

I watched him open his mouth, a smirk on his face. I scowled and before he could say anything, gave his hand a slap. "Stop being a pervert! Regular sleep, no sex."

"Fine, scoot over." I moved over and lifted the covers so he could climb into the bed with me. "Don't move too much, you don't want to rip your IV'S out."

"Shut up and go to sleep." I mumbled into his chest as I rested my head onto it. I felt him wrap an arm around my waist and I smiled before falling asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up the next morning, feeling colder than when I fell asleep. I opened my eyes to see the bed and my hospital room empty. I sighed as disappointment washed over me. I was hoping Sasuke would at least be here long enough to say bye before his shift. I looked over at the wall to check the time. It was a little past nine. I slowly pulled myself up into a sitting position just as the door opened.

"Good morning, Naruto." Hinata smiled at me. She pushed in a cart that had a tray with some food on it. "I brought you your first plate for breakfast. You can go ahead and eat this while I explain how this is going to work from now on."

I watched as she set up a lap table and set the tray on top of it. I looked at the food, and my stomach immediately began to start churning. "What if I throw this up?"

"I've added some ginger supplements to help with the nausea, along with some other foods that naturally help with that." She gave me a smile as I took a bite. "So while you're here, you'll be having two meals a day with a snack in between for the first two weeks. Once those those two weeks pass, you'll be going up to three meals and two snacks."

The food was pretty good, especially for hospital food. I nodded at her to let her know I was listening as I began to eat more.

"Now, you'll also have to be exercising." I groaned and she laughed. "Don't worry, nothing too excruciating. We'll just be walking the grounds of the hospital. Walking two wings the first week and slowly increasing over your time here. At the end of each exercise, we can also go visit Tama. If you're up for it, of course."

I looked up at her from my plate and looked at her hopefully. "Really? I'm allowed to visit him?"

She nodded. "Of course. As long as you're not overexerting yourself."

I gave her a wide smile and was about to go in for another bite but then realized my plate was empty. I looked down at it in shock then back up to her. "I didn't even realize how much I ate."

Hinata giggled behind her hand. "Well I'm glad you ate it all. How are you feeling."

I stayed silent, focusing on my stomach but I didn't feel anything. "I don't feel like throwing up, so you're definitely doing something right."

"Of course she is, she's a doctor." We both looked towards the door to see Sasuke and Kiba standing in the doorway. I glared at the two of them as Kiba snickered and Sasuke smirked at me.

"Shut up, you two!" I crossed my arms over my chest. "What are you guys doing here anyways?"

"I just finished showering and getting ready for my shift. Came to say good morning." Sasuke came into the room and placed a light kiss on my forehead. "And to say bye."

"Bye bastard." I waved at his retreating form as he left the room. I looked at Kiba who was now standing next to Hinata. "What about you, dog-breath?"

"I'm here to help Hinata with your exercising." He gave me a toothy grin and I saw Hinata roll her eyes.

"Help her with what?" I asked with a snort. "I'm not that problematic, am I?"

Hinata shook her head. "No, he's just trying to make up for what he did last night."

"Oh, what did he do?" I leaned forward in my bed.

"Don't worry about it, blondie." Kiba gave me a glare and I smirked at him.

"Go see your patients, Kiba." Hinata said, gently pushing him away. "I'll see you later."

Kiba left reluctantly and it was just the two of us again.

"You ready to go out and walk around?"

"Wearing this?" I held out my arms to show her the hospital gown.

"There should be some scrubs in the closet that you can wear when we're walking around. I'll give you some time to change and then we'll go.' She left the room and I got up and walked to the closet where the scrubs were.

After finishing changing, Hinata came in just as I put on the hospital slippers.

"Ready to go?"

"Yep!" I followed after her we began to walk and talk. We went at a decent pace when I felt myself begin to tire.

I groaned as we turned down another hallway. "I feel so old. I'm already out of breath."

She stopped a couple paces ahead of me and waited patiently for me to catch up. "You're not old Naruto, you're pregnant. Getting tired easily is very common."

I groaned again as she began to walk again. "How much farther?"

"We're actually here." She stopped in front of a door and I had to take a moment to realize we were in fact, standing in front of Tama's door. I stood up a little straighter and took a deep breath to calm my nerves.

"Ready to go in?" She asked me and I nodded. She opened the door and I quickly followed behind her.

In the room was Kakashi and Iruka who were standing on one side of Tama's bed facing the door. Suki was sitting cross legged at the end of his bed. Tama was sitting up in his bed.

"Hey everyone, look who came to visit!" Hinata stepped to the side and I waved to the room.

"Papa!" Tama shouted happily.

"Naruto! How're you doing?" Iruka walked over to me and wrapped me in a gentle hug. I hugged him back.

"I'm doing good now, thanks." I smiled brightly at him.

"Glad to see you're doing well." Kakashi waved at me.

"Thanks." I smiled back at him then looked at Tama and Suki. "Hey guys."

Tama smiled widely, holding out his arms. "Hi Papa! I missed you! Daddy and Suki told me you were sick. I wanted to stay with you last night but Daddy said I had to get better first."

I walked over to him and wrapped him in my arms. "I know you wanted to, baby. Daddy told me all about it. But once both of us get better, we'll both be able to go home." I turned towards Suki who was quiet this whole time. She was looking down at her lap.

"Hi, Suki." I walked over to her and gently placed my hand on her head. She quickly turned away and didn't say anything. I frowned before taking my hand back, letting it hang by my side. I felt a sharp stab of pain in my chest at her rejection. The room was quiet and I bit my lip to stop myself from bursting into tears.

"Well, I gotta bring Naruto back to his room. He's still has a ways to go before he gets better." I was thankful for Hinata and I said my quick goodbyes to the room before following Hinata out of the room.

We stayed quiet on the walk back. When we reached my room, I headed to the bed, laying down and pulling the covers up to my chin.

"Can I get you anything, Naruto?" I turned to see her standing at the foot of the bed, looking at me with concern. I shook my head and she gave me a small smile in return. "I'll be back in an hour or so to give you your snack."

"Can we skip that today? I don't really feel like eating any time soon."

She pursed her lips and I could see her thinking about it. "How about we see how you feel after an hour and a half? If you still don't feel like eating, I'll just bring your dinner later on. Sounds good?"

I nodded and tried to give her a smile but it felt more like a grimace. "Thanks, Hinata."

She patted my leg before turning and leaving. As soon as the door closed, I pulled the blanket up over my head.

I felt terrible about Suki not talking to me. I felt myself begin to cry, instead of trying to stop it, I let it out. I wasn't sure how long I stayed under the blankets crying, but after some time, there was a knock on my door.

"Naruto, sweetie?" It was my mom. "Can I come in?"

I quickly wiped at my eyes and took the covers off my head. "Y-yeah." My voice sounded hoarse and shaky and I tried to clear my throat before she came in.

The door opened slowly and my mom stepped in. As soon as she saw me, she let out a gasp and hurried to the side of my bed. "What's wrong, Naruto?"

I threw myself into her lap and began to sob uncontrollably I wrapped my arms around her waist and she wrapped hers around my torso, gently rocking us back and forth.

"Does this have anything to do with Sasuke?"

I was too hysterical to give her an answer so I just shook my head.

She hummed in thought. "The twins?"

I nodded. She began to run her fingers in my hair and I felt myself begin to relax. "It's Suki." I felt her pause in her actions but then she began again. "She won't talk to me." My eyes began to water again. "I scared her so badly she can't even talk to me. I fucked up so badly, mom!"

"Naruto," I sat up and looked to see her frowning at me. "Things aren't as bad as they seem. She may be a little scared, but she still loves you. Nothing will change that."

I shook my head. "I can't stand her not talking to me, or smiling at me. She won't even look at me!" I felt my voice falter once again as I began to cry. "She's been so brave for her brother, she probably feels so alone now too. And I just made things so much worse."

"Just give her some time Naruto. She's still young and doesn't know how to process these feelings. Just keep acting like your regular self and soon enough she'll start talking to you."

I wiped at my eyes and sighed. "How do you know?"

She laughed. "Because I had to deal with something similar to you."

I stared at her with wide eyes. "Me? I don't remember not talking to you."

"You were so young, I wouldn't expect you to remember. The first time I ever spanked you, you cried and ran to your room. You refused to talk to me for a whole week because you were so scared." She laughed loudly. "I would watch you talk to your dad and brother, being so happy and then I'd walk into the room and you'd be so quiet. But I still talked to you like I always have and eventually you went back to your old self."

I felt embarrassed and could feel my cheeks heating up. "You really think she'll start talking to me, just like that?"

"If she's anything like you, I know she will."

I groaned out loud. "She's more like Sasuke than me!"

She rolled her eyes and stood up. "Then ask Sasuke to talk with her. Don't worry, everything's going to be fine."

I sighed and smiled up at her. "Thanks mom."

"Now, I'm going to be heading home, are you going to be okay?"

"Yes mom."

"Alright." She leaned down and gave me a hug and I gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I love you and I'll see you sometime soon."

I nodded. "Love you too."

I waved and watched her leave the room.

I spent the rest of the day watching tv. Hinata came in to check up on me, bringing me a snack and dinner a few hours later. I was feeling a lot better, the nauseous feeling not returning anymore.

I fell asleep pretty early and it wasn't until Hinata brought me my breakfast in the morning, that I woke up.

"Feeling hungry?"

I shrugged my shoulders, still feeling a little down about Suki. "I'm not, not feeling hungry."

Hinata giggled as she placed the tray in front of me. "Well then, once you finish eating we'll go ahead and walk around some more."

I groaned before relcutantly taking a bite. "But I'm so tired, Hinata."

"No getting out of this Naruto. Besides, don't you want to see Tama?"

I looked away, not wanting to answer. I took another bite, unable to look her in the eyes.

"Either way, I have to finish up a couple things and then I'll be right back to take you out."

I watched her leave the room and I slowly finished the rest of my breakfast.

By the time Hinata came back, I was just finishing changing into the scrubs from yesterday.

We walked the same route as before, my legs feeling more sore.

We reached Tama's room where I peeked my head into the doorway. Sasuke and Tama were the only ones there. Sasuke was sitting up in the bed, Tama sitting in his lap. Sasuke was holding up a book and even though I couldn't hear him, I saw his lips move as he was reading out loud. My heart warmed at the scene and I felt myself smile and not wanting to interrupt.

After some time, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jumped. I quickly turned to see Hinata smiling at me. I stepped back from the doorway and sheepishly smiled at her. "Sorry, I kind of forgot where I was for a second."

Her smile grew a bit wider and she let her hand drop from my shoulder. "Go ahead inside. Sasuke will walk you back to your room."

I nodded and watched her walk away with a wave.

I lightly knocked on the door and both Sasuke and Tama looked up to see who it was. I gave them a shy smile and waved.

"Papa!" Tama sat up quickly causing Sasuke to flinch. I giggled before walking into the room.

"Hi baby, how are you?" I gave him a kiss on the head before leaning down to Sasuke and placing a kiss on his lips.

"I'm doing good. Daddy was reading me a story!" He took the book from Sasuke's hands to show me.

I looked it over to see it was Alice in Wonderland. "Alice in Wonderland? Do you like it?"

"Yeah! I like the Red Queen. Off with your head!" He made a slicing motion before he started to laugh. I looked at Sasuke who was smiling as well.

"I'm glad you like it. It's a good story." I sat down on the bed and laid down, cuddling into Sasuke's side. He wrapped his arm around me and Tama snuggled himself in between us.

"Daddy! Read to Papa and me!" He demanded, holding the book up for Sasuke to take.

"What's the magic word?" Sasuke gave him a stern look.

"Please can you read to Papa and me?" Tama said sweetly, giving him puppy dog eyes.

I laughed and joined in with the look. "Please, Sasu-chan?"

Sasuke gave me a glare and I laughed again.

"Sasu-chan!" Tama giggled and then began to chant it.

I laughed harder as Sasuke's glare narrowed more. "Look what you started!"

"Aw I'm sorry, Sasu-chan. I promise, Tama and I won't say it anymore if you read to us."

Tama nodded, holding the book up to him once again.

"Alright, everyone get comfy."

Tama squirmed for a bit and Sasuke and I laughed until he stopped and gave us a big smile. "I'm ready!"

Sasuke began to read from where he last left off with Tama. I was into the story at first but then I felt myself being lulled to sleep by his voice. It wasn't until I was being shaken awake that I actually realized I fell asleep.

"Hey, Hinata wants you back." Sasuke said, standing over me.

I blinked my eyes rapidly to clear the fog and turned to see that I was still lying on the bed, Tama spread out where Sasuke was lying earlier, fast asleep. I yawned before stretching. "Alright."

"Come on, I'll walk you back."

I nodded my head before standing up and taking his outstretched hand. We left Tama's room and began to walk down the corridor towards my room. "Has Suki said anything about me?" I asked after sometime, suddenly feeling shy.

He gave me a brief glance before shaking his head. "She's never told me personally, but Iruka says she's scared that you're sick like Tama. I haven't had the chance to talk with her since then."

I nodded my head and felt my eyes begin to water. I felt a gentle squeeze of my hand and looked up to see Sasuke giving me a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry Naruto, this weekend, we'll all sit down and talk to each other. We'll make sure she's knows that everything is going to be okay."

"I'd like that." I leaned my head against his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around my waist.

We reached my room shortly where Hinata was already in the room.

"I'll see you later, okay?" Sasuke gave me a peck on the lips.

"You'll stay with me tonight?" I asked hopefully.

He smirked. "We'll see."

I pouted and stuck out my tongue. "Teme." I turned to walk into the room when I felt a slap on my butt. I turned to glare at him but he was already walking away. "Asshole!" I yelled out.

"Naruto!" Hinata scolded from inside the room.

I walked inside and sheepishly rubbed my head. "Sorry, Hinata."

The weekend came quickly. I easily fell into the routine that Hinata set up for me. After the first two days, constantly walking was becoming easier, though I still got out of breath by the time I reached Tama's room. Suki visited one other time, still refusing to talk to me. I felt bad but Sasuke reassured me that everything would be better come Saturday.

Hinata woke me up Saturday morning, the same as normal. She set my breakfast out and waited until I began to eat before talking.

"So today, Sasuke will be taking over your exercise and diet plan. I'll be walking you to Tama's room where he'll be waiting."

"Oh, are you off today?" I asked, curiously.

"Something like that." She smiled at me and watched me finish.

Once I was dressed, we walked to Tama's room. The door was open and Suki and Tama were sitting on the bed, watching TV while Sasuke was sitting in the corner, phone in his hand.

"Have a good day, Naruto. I'll see you on Monday."

I said my goodbyes and waited for her to leave before stepping into the room. "Morning everyone!"

"Papa!" Tama shouted from the bed. Suki briefly looked at me before turning her attention back to the TV.

I bit my lip and stood awkwardly off to the side of the bed. "Morning Sasuke."

Sasuke gave me a small smile and stood up. He walked over to me, kissed the top of my head and grabbed my hand. "Morning Naruto."

I blushed at the attention before looking at him in surprise at he gently pushed me onto the bed.

"Now. We all have to have a talk." Sasuke sternly crossed his arms over his chest and I had to stop myself from snickering at the bossy look he was trying so hard to portray.

"Daddy, why?" Tama whined.

"Because I have a special surprise for you all, but we all have to be talking to each other.

"Can I have the surprise now? I talk to everybody. Suki's the one who's not talking to Papa."

Sasuke's mouth twitched as he tried not to smile and I couldn't help but laugh a little. "No Tama. The surprise is for everyone to enjoy together."

"Suki, just talk to Papa! I want a surprise!" He shouted.

"Be quiet, Tama." Suki hissed at him.

I turned around a little to face the twins. Suki instantly looked down at her lap and I reached out and placed my hand on her leg. I felt her tense under my touch but otherwise she didn't move.

"Baby, why won't you talk to me?" I gently pleaded with her. She turned her head away. "Did I make you mad?"

She was silent before she shook her head.

I looked at Sasuke who nodded at me to continue. I looked back at her. "Did I make you sad?"

She didn't move for a bit but then she turned and looked at me, tears in her eyes. "I'm scared, Papa."

A wave of relief washed over me as she finally talked to me. "Why are you scared?"

"I don't want you to be sick too. I don't like being alone." She began to cry and I quickly grabbed her and brought her into a tight hug.

"You're not alone though, Suki. I'll be back home in a couple weeks and then Daddy and Tama will be back home soon after. And then we'll have our whole family back together again. But for now, you have Iruka and Kakashi."

Tama crawled over to us and wrapped his own arms around her. "I love you, Suki. I don't want you to be alone, I promise to get better faster."

I smiled at the sincerity in his words. I felt a dip in the bed and looked over to see Sasuke who then wrapped his own arms around us. "Even though we can't be there at home with you, Suki, we'll always be here for you."

I leaned back into Sasuke's hold and looked down at our children. A feeling of pride swelled up inside of me and I felt myself begin to tear up.

"Papa, don't cry." Suki looked up at me, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry for not talking to you."

I started to stroke her hair. "It's okay, baby. I'm just so proud of you two. My strong, brave babies."

The twins looked at each other and giggled. Tama then grabbed Sasuke's hand and gave it a light tug. "Daddy, what's our surprise?"

"Yeah! What is it?!" Suki chimed in.

Sasuke and I laughed at their anxiousness. He stood up and the twins looked at him expectantly. "We're all going to see Lego Batman and then go to Chuck E. Cheese."

I looked at Sasuke, in shock, as the twins began to laugh in excitement. "Wait, we can leave?"

He smirked at me. "Only for the day, but yeah, you two can leave."

I stood up and ran to Sasuke, throwing my arms around his neck. "Thank you!" We stood there for a bit until Tama impatiently stepped in between us, grabbing our hands.

"Come on, let's go!"

We laughed before I stopped, I looked at Sasuke. "What about clothes? Me and Tama only have our hospital gowns."

Tama looked down at himself then at Suki and giving a pout to Sasuke.

"You really think I'd forget something like that?" Sasuke rolled his eyes before walking to Tama's closet. He opened the doors and a duffle bag was tucked away inside. He pulled it out and I let out a breath of relief as I saw our clothes packed neatly away.

"Now hurry up and get dressed." He tossed me my clothes and I stuck out my tongue before going into the bathroom and changing.

After getting ready, we took the subway uptown to the movie theaters. After getting our tickets and some snacks, we found our seats in the theater. The twins enjoyed themselves, and I even caught Sasuke laughing here and there.

We then took the train to Queens and walked a short distance to Chuck E. Cheese. We got some tokens for the twins and let them go off to get play games. Sasuke and I found a table close to the games and sat down. He sat on the inside of the bootb while I sat next to him, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"So, how did you get us a day off to come out?" I asked looking up at him.

"I'm a doctor, idiot." He kissed the top of my head. "I can get you a day off whenever. Plus, it's not like they're forcing you two to stay there. It's just better if you do."

"Mhm." I turned myself so that my back was now leaning on his side. I pulled his arm up and wrapped it around myself. "You just wanted to keep an eye on your more troublesome family members." I heard him snort and I laughed. "But thank you. We really needed this." I brought his hand to my lips and gently kissed it.

"Anything for you, dobe." I felt his chin rest on top of my head and his other hand slide up to rest on my belly.

I sighed in content. It's been so long since I've felt so normal, and that we could all be together again as a family.

After almost an hour of just talking, the twins came back, a bundle of tickets in each of their hands. Before cashing them in, we all sat together and had some pizza and drinks.

We went to the prize counter after finishing dinner, and the twins each had enough tickets to get matching stuffed animals and some candy.

We reluctantly left Chuck E. Cheese and headed to the subway to go back to the hospital.

When we got out of the train station, Kakashi and Iruka were waiting to take Suki home.

"Bye Daddy, bye Papa!" She looked up at us with a bright smile then turned to face Tama. "Bye Tama!"

I squatted down and held my arms out to give her a hug. She ran into my arms and I held onto her tightly. "You're so brave and I'm so proud of you. Daddy, Tama and I love you so much baby, okay?" I felt her nod and I kissed the top of her head. "Now be good for Kakashi and Iruka."

She giggled as she pulled away. "I'm always good, Papa!"

"I know." I gave her a toothy grin. "Now go have fun!"

The three of us watched her walk away with Iruka and Kakashi and as they disappeared from sight, I felt heavier. I looked up as Sasuke gently grasped my hand and gave me a knowing look.

"Ready to go, Papa?" Tama smiled up at me, holding out his own hand for me to take.

"Yeah, let's go."


	8. Chapter 8

Three weeks passed by quickly for me. I was finally eating normally and Hinata allowed me to be released a week before Tama, just as she promised.

It was Friday morning and I woke up to see a bag of clothes and a note from Sasuke sitting at the end of my bed. I read the note over and smiled as Sasuke congratulated me on getting out on time. I pulled out the clothes and quickly changed in the bathroom.

When I was finished, Hinata was in the room, a big smile on her face. "I'm so proud of you, Naruto. You made it through the whole month and you and the baby are healthy."

I smiled back brightly at her. "Thanks! You know I couldn't have done it without you." I looked around the room and let out a sigh. "I'm going to go say bye to Tama before Iruka gets here."

"Sasuke took Tama to Sai's office for his chemo today. They want him to get some exercise before he goes back home."

I frowned at Hinata's words. "I guess I can try coming back later to say bye."

"Hey Naruto!" I turned to see Iruka standing in the doorway, Suki next to him, holding his hand.

"Hi Papa!" She greeted excitedly.

I walked over to the two of them, leaning down to wrap Suki in a hug, then Iruka. "Hi baby, hi Iruka."

"I forgot to bring some of Suki's stuff so we'll have to go back to my place and get that. Did you eat? We can go out and get something afterwards?" Iruka asked.

I shook my head. "No I haven't eaten yet." I turned to face Hinata. "Thank you again Hinata, for everything."

"No problem, Naruto. I'll see you at your next ultrasound appointment." I watched her wave and waved back and followed Iruka and Suki out the door.

"Are you excited to finally come home, Papa?!" Suki asked as she grabbed my hand.

I chuckled. "Of course I am! And then next week, Daddy and Tama will be home again."

Suki giggled as she looked up at Iruka. "Are you gonna miss me?"

Iruka ruffled her hair. "Of course I'm going to miss you and so will Kakashi."

We reached the entrance to the hospital to see Kakashi sitting in their blue sedan, parked close to the entrance.

"You guys drove here?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah. We weren't going to but we'd rather you feel as comfortable as possible."

I helped Suki into her car seat and then climbed in myself.

"So, you excited to finally go home?" Kakashi asked me, looking through the rearview mirror.

I smiled brightly at him. "Of course! It's just going to be a long week without Tama and Sasuke too."

I watched Kakashi give Iruka a knowing look and then Iruka smiled at him. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion and leaned forward in my seat. "What are you two hiding?"

"Nothing Naruto, sit back in your seat!" Iruka scolded me. I reluctantly sat back and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Can you believe how mean Kakashi and Iruka are being to me since I just got out?" I looked down at Suki, a half smile on my face.

Suki giggled and shook her head. "They're not being mean, Papa!"

I feigned shock as my eyes widened. "Suki? Are you taking their side instead of mine?! I left you alone with them too long. I must punish you!" I lifted my hands up and wiggled my fingers at her.

She began to laugh loudly. "No, Papa! Don't tickle me!"

"It's too late!" I began to tickle her sides and she started to laugh wildly and I soon joined in. It wasn't long until we reached Kakashi's and Iruka's place.

"Alright, you guys wait out here. I'll grab Suki's bag and we can walk over to that ramen shop on the way to your place." Kakashi said. He unlocked the front door of the apartment building and we watched him head to the elevator.

"We're having Ichiraku"s?" I looked at Iruka excitedly.

Iruka laughed. "Yes Naruto."

"It's been so long since I've had ramen." I looked down at Suki.

"Papa, you're not tired of it yet?" She grabbed onto my hand.

"I can never get tired of ramen."

She gave me a pout. "I can."

Iruka and I laughed and a few minutes later, Kakashi came walking out with Suki's bag in his hand. "Ready to go guys?"

We walked to the ramen shop and there, I greeted the owner and his daughter, catching up with the two of them as we waited for our food.

Once we were done eating, we headed towards our place. As we reached the building, I looked up. "It feels like forever since I've been here." I groaned. "Can you imagine the cleaning I'll be having to do?"

"No need to worry about that, Naruto. Your mom cleaned up the place when she was here and Sasuke did it earlier this week. There shouldn't really be anything for you to do."

I felt myself start to tear up and I quickly wiped my eyes. "Oh my god, I'm so lucky to have the family I do."

Suki looked up at me, giving me a weird look. "If you're happy, why are you crying, Papa?"

Kakashi looked down at her. "It's because your Papa is feeling emotional. It happens when people have a baby."

"So the baby is making Papa cry?" She looked at him with wide eyes before looking towards me then my stomach. She glared at it and pointed a finger. "Don't make Papa cry! It's not nice!"

The three of us laughed and we stepped in the elevator. We rode up to our floor and I unlocked the door to a dark living room.

As soon as the lights turned on, there was a loud shout of "Surprise!"

I looked at the room in shock, my parents, Kyuubi, Itachi and their kids, Mikoto and Fugaku, and Sasuke and Tama were all standing in the room. "W-what's this?" I asked, still shocked by all of them.

"Welcome home, Naruto." Sasuke was the first one to say anything, taking a step towards me and giving me a quick kiss on the lips. "We all wanted to surprise you for coming home."

"Welcome home, Papa!" Tama said coming up to me and clinging on to my legs.

"Thank you, baby!" I patted the top of his head and then turned to look at Iruka and Kakashi. "You guys knew about this, didn't you?"

"Of course!" Kakashi replied, a smile on his face. "Why did you think we brought you to Ichiraku? Out of the goodness of our hearts?" He started to laugh until Iruka gave him a glare and nudged him into the side.

"Thank you everyone for coming!" I smiled at the room.

Slowly they all personally congratulated me home, afterwards starting to talk to each other.

"I got a special surprise for you." Sasuke whispered into my ear as I was talking to my mom and Mikoto. "I'll be in the bedroom waiting." I blushed at his words and watched him walk away.

"I'll be right back." I excused myself from the conversation and headed towards the bedroom.

"Teme, I swear, this is not the time for sex." I glared at him as I opened the door to see him sitting on the edge of the bed.

He gave me a confused look. "I wasn't going to do anything sexual." He paused before a predatory gaze crossed his eyes and he smirked. "But if it's something that crossed your mind, I'd be happy to satisfy any urges you may have."

I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow. "Nice try. Now, what's the real surprise?"

Sasuke stood up, a small smile on his face as he walked towards me. He placed his hands on my shoulders and I uncrossed mine, letting them fall to my sides.

"Tama and I are staying home."

I looked up at him, shocked. "Wait, what?"

"Tama and I are-"

I quickly cut him off. "No, no I heard you but, why?"

"Sai believes Tama is doing really well and we sat down and discussed him coming home the same day as you."

I felt my eyes start to water at the happiness I was feeling. "Really?"

Sasuke nodded. "Though he does have to come in the rest of the week for the last of his chemo, but I don't think he'll mind."

"He doesn't know?" I asked him.

"Nope. He just thinks he's staying out for the day."

"He's going to be so excited!" I chuckled. "So when do you have to go back to work?"

"I'm taking vacation time for the week so I can catch up on family time."

I felt myself start to cry as the feeling of happiness overwhelmed me. Sasuke pulled me into his arms as I sobbed helplessly in his arms. "You have no idea how happy this makes me, Sasuke. I'm so happy we can finally be a family again."

"I'm happy too. I've missed you and Suki so much. I love you, Naruto." I felt him kiss the top of my head.

"I love you too."

We stayed in the bedroom a little while later as I calmed down so that we could announce the news to everyone else.

"Hey everyone!" I shouted into the living room, getting everyone's attention. "I have some great news!" I felt Sasuke's arm over my shoulder and I grabbed his hand giving it a light squeeze and smiled brightly at my family.

"Not only am I coming home, so is Tama!"

The room was silent at first until my dad picked up Tama and set him on his shoulder. "Look at that Tama! You and Papa are coming home together!"

"Really?" Tama looked at us hopefully with wide eyes and Sasuke and I both nodded at him. He began to laugh happily and the children joined in, my dad dancing around the living room with Tama.

We all laughed and watched until he tired himself out.

The rest of the night went by quickly as we all talked about the future and how bright it was looking. It was pretty late by the time everyone decided to leave.

"Tama, we finally get to tuck you back into your own bed." I smiled down at him, sitting on the edge of the bed. I looked over at Suki, where Sasuke was tucking her in. "And you too Suki."

"I missed my bed, it's a lot comfier and now Daddy doesn't have to sit in a chair and snore while he sleeps!" He gave a big cheeky grin and Sasuke glared over at me as I started laughing.

"Good night you two." I kissed Tama on the head and walked over to Suki's bed to give her a kiss. "Have sweet dreams, we love you."

"Goodnight Papa! Goodnight Daddy!" They said together and me and Sasuke quietly closed the door behind us as we headed to our own room.

We each climbed into our own sides of the bed and met in the middle, his arms wrapping around my waist and my arms wrapping around his shoulders.

"I'm so glad things will finally be able to go back to normal." I whispered into his bare chest.

I felt one of his arms reach up and then his fingers were threading my hair. "I know. I've missed our family so much." His fingers left my scalp and I felt his lips against the top of my head. "I love you, Naruto."

I gave a light kiss to his chest and snuggled in closer to him. "I love you too, Sasuke."

*5 Months Later*

We were at my parents house in the Hamptons setting up their backyard for the twins' birthday party. My parents and Sasuke's parents were there along with Itachi, Kyuubi, Kairi and Ryou, and now their newest addition to the family, Terra who was a month old. I handed Sasuke another streamer as he leaned down from the ladder.

There was a cry from the porch and we looked to see Ryou squirming in his baby seat. I looked towards Kyuubi who looked a bit preoccupied. "I got this, Kyuu!" I shouted to him. He gave me a look of relief and continued blowing up a balloon.

I waddled my way to the porch and picked him up, bouncing him slowly in my arms. "What's wrong with you, hm?" I lifted him slightly over my head and gave his diaper a quick sniff. "Nope, you're all good there. Are you hungry?" I carried him inside and headed into the kitchen.

I heard the sound of the TV and angry yelling and quickly checked up on the kids in the living room. "What's going on in here?"

"I'm kicking everyone's butt!" Tama shouted as he looked over his shoulder, giving me a toothy grin.

The past five months, he recovered quite quickly from his chemo. His hair was growing back and he gained the weight that he lost back. He went back to school and with a little help from me and Sasuke, was able to catch up with his class. And with Neji and Sai's approval, he might join the soccer team at the beginning of school.

"Not anymore Tama!" Kairi shouted out in a cry of victory.

"Huh?" He quickly turned back towards the TV only to cry out in disbelief.

I laughed out loud. "Alright guys, I'll leave you to it. We'll be done soon so be ready for your friends to show up soon." I left the living room after hearing confirmation from them and went to the fridge where a bottle was made for Terra. I went to heat it up and once it was the right temperature, I went back outside on the porch to feed her outside.

I watched Itachi go over to Sasuke, seemingly to help with the streamers. He had one in his hand and a slightly mischievous grin on his face. I giggled to myself, whenever those two were on vacation and spending time with each other, they can never stop messing around.

I watched him stop behind the unsuspecting Sasuke and he turned to look at me, putting a finger up to his lips. I gave him the thumbs up and he smirked. He unraveled part of the streamer and quietly began to wrap it around Sasuke's unsuspecting leg.

"Itachi!" Mikoto shouted as she noticed what Itachi was doing. She dropped the pool skimmer and placed her hands on her hips, glaring at him. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Itachi quickly stepped far enough away from Sasuke, just as he turned to look down at him. Itachi gave her an innocent look. "I'm just trying to help out Sasuke with the streamers since Naruto's busy." He held up the roll of streamers.

"You're going to hurt him!"

Sasuke gave confused looks between the two of them. "What is she talking about?" He finally looked at Itachi.

Itachi shrugged before starting to walk away.

Sasuke shook his head before attempting to go down the ladder. He wobbled before catching himself and looking down at his legs. "Asshole!" He shouted after a cackling Itachi.

"Sasuke!" Fugaku and Mikoto scolded him. "Watch your language."

Kyuubi and I joined in Itachi's laughter as Sasuke grumbled as he ripped the streamers off his legs. He gave me a glare. "You're supposed to warn me about him!"

I smiled at him. "I didn't see anything."

His eyes narrowed even further before he got off the ladder.

I didn't notice Kyuubi walking towards me until he sat down in the chair next to me and held out his arms for Terra. I carefully handed her over after placing the almost empty bottle onto the table. I leaned back in my chair gently rubbing my stomach.

"So, five weeks left. Bet you're ready to give birth." He smirked at me.

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "I've been ready ever since I couldn't fit into my favorite T-shirt."

He laughed. "I hear ya. You guys have any name ideas for the little guy?"

I gave a slight shrug of my shoulder. "We were thinking about Yukio."

"Aw that's a cute one." Kyuubi gushed.

"Uncle Naru," the two of us turned to the door to see Kairi standing there. "One of Tama's friends are here."

I gave her a smile. "Alright, thank you." She ran back into the house and I turned to look at Kyuubi. "Guess it's time to get this party started!"

The party went by with no problems at all. The twins got plenty of presents from their friends and also from their family. When all the guests left, we tucked them into bed so that we could head back home in the morning.

Sasuke and I climbed into the bed in the guest room that was next to my childhood bedroom where all the kids were sleeping.

I snuggled up to Sasuke's side and let out a sigh. I felt a hand on my stomach and then his arm wrap around my shoulder. "Today was a good day." I mumbled, trying to stifle a yawn.

He grunted before replying. "Yeah except for the fact that Itachi tried to kill me."

I snorted. "Hardly. That ladder was barely four feet off the ground."

I felt a sharp pain at my ear and quickly turned my head to glare at him, only to see him glaring back. "Did you just bite my ear?"

"Yeah. Whose side are you on?"

"The more logical one."

We kept our glares until I saw the corner of his mouth twitch and I began to laugh. "Go to sleep, teme."

"Right back at ya, dobe."

I chuckled once before closing my eyes and falling asleep.

The next morning, we said our goodbyes to my parents and his as well as Itachi, Kyuubi and their kids. We packed our stuff into the car and started the drive back to Manhattan.

The car ride was mostly filled by Tama talking about one thing or the other and all of us putting in our responses.

As we arrived into Queens, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and hissed.

"Everything alright?' Sasuke gave me a look of concern as he heard me.

"I think so." I rubbed the area of my stomach that the pain came from. "I just a sharp pain in my stomach."

"We'll go to the hospital."

I rolled my eyes. "Sasuke, it could be nothing."

"I'd rather be safe than sorry. We'll drop them off at Kakashi's and Iruka's." He looked into the rearview mirror. "You guys, we're going to drop you off at Uncle Kakashi's and Iruka's, okay?"

"Why?" Suki asked confused.

"Papa's feeling some pain and I want to make sure he's okay." He replied.

I turned around in my seat and faced them. "Don't worry, everything's going to be fine. Daddy's just being a worry wart." I snickered.

"Worry wart! Worry wart!" Tama laughed.

"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke huffed.

We drove over the bridge into Manhattan when another sharp pain hit me again. I hissed again and shut my eyes, waiting for the pain to pass.

"Are you sure you're okay, Papa?" Suki asked.

"Nothing to worry about, baby, I'm okay." I smiled back at her. I watched her nod and turned back in my seat. I felt Sasuke's hand give a squeeze to my leg and I placed my hand a top his.

We arrived to Kakashi and Iruka's place within twenty minutes.

Sasuke got out of the car and went to go help Suki out. I started to climb out of my seat when another sharp pain hit me once again. I groaned out loud and sat back in my seat.

"Just stay there, Naruto. I'll bring the twins up and be right back." He walked to the other side of the car and got Tama out. I watched them go into the building and patiently waited for Sasuke to come back.

"You ready?" Sasuke asked, climbing into the car and starting it.

I nodded once, clenching my teeth in pain.

The drive to the hospital was quick. Sasuke parked in the employee lot closest to the emergency room. He carefully helped me out, the pain once again hitting me as I tried getting out on my own.

We walked into the emergency room and luckily, spotted Hinata walking down a corridor.

"Hinata!" Sasuke shouted. She looked up from her clipboard, gave us a smile and started walking towards us.

"Sasuke, Naruto, what's up?" She stopped in front of us.

"He's been feeling sharp stomach pain since we reached Queens about three hours ago." Sasuke replied, using his doctor voice.

She nodded once before ushering us to follow her. "I'll bring you into an examining room and see whether or not you're in labor."

I nodded once and followed her.

Hinata checked me over quickly. "Alright, so you are in labor, so that-"

"Isn't it too early?" I interrupted her, feeling nervous.

"It's a little early, yes, but the baby is developed enough that it should be fine on its own. Now, I'm just going to find an open operating room and then we can prep you for that C-section." She gave me a smile before hurriedly leaving.

"I'm nervous, Sasuke." I grabbed at his hand and he lightly squeezed my hand.

"Don't be. You're in very capable hands and if there is any trouble, which there won't be, I'll just jump in and save your life." He gave me a smug look and I rolled my eyes.

I let out a sigh. "You'll save the baby, right?" I asked after sometime.

"What?" He looked down at me, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"If it comes down to saving either me or the baby, you'll choose the baby, right?"

I watched him frown. "Naruto, its not going to come to that, like I told you, I'll jump in-"

"Sasuke!" I growled just as another sharp pain hit me. I waited for it to pass before glaring at him. "Please, promise me."

He paused before letting out a breath. "Alright. I promise."

I sat back and smiled in relief just as Hinata walked back into the room.

"Alright, let's go have a baby!" She pushed in a wheelchair and told me to climb in.

We walked down the hallways until she brought us into a room where she prepped me and Sasuke.

Soon enough, I was lying on a table and foggy memories came to my mind from when the twins were born. As soon as the curtain went up, hiding my body from my upper torso, down, I reached out for Sasuke's hand.

"Don't worry, I'm right here." Sasuke assured me.

I closed my eyes as I felt the weird feeling of being cut open without any of the pain. It felt like hours later when I heard the sound of a baby crying. I felt insanely tired, groggy and could barely keep my eyes open.

"Meet your son, you guys." Hinata held up the baby and I smiled lightly as I watched her hand the baby to Sasuke.

"Here you go, Sasuke." Hinata handed me my son and I couldn't keep the huge grin off my face if I tried.

"Naruto, meet Yukio."

"Sasuke." Naruto's voice came out as a whisper.

I was about to bend down and show him our beautiful son when the heart monitor let out a loud beep, indicating a flat line. My eyes widened and I looked down at Naruto. "Naruto?"

"Sasuke, you're going to have to leave." Hinata said sternly. A nurse took Yukio out of my arms as I stared at Naruto's lifeless form, unable to comprehend what's going on.

"N-naruto?!"

"Sasuke! Please, the longer you take the less likely chance we are to save him!" Hinata yelled at me and I instantly snapped out of it and walked out of the room.

I walked into the hall and collapsed against the wall, staring at the wall ahead of me. I pulled out my cellphone and dialed an all too familiar number.

"Sasuke, did you guys get home okay?" Itachi answered almost immediately.

"N-naruto, he's," I couldn't form an coherent thought, the image of a lifeless Naruto still imprinted on my brain.

"What happened?" His voice got serious.

"He, he went into labor. We named him, Yukio." It was the only thing I could get out.

I heard a sigh of relief come from him. "That's great news, Sasuke. Congratulations! But you sound upset, what-"

"He flatlined." As soon as the words came out, I couldn't control myself, I began to cry hysterically.

"Sasuke, everything's going to be okay, you know your coworkers, you know they'll save him."

"But what if they can't do anything for him?! I'm supposed to be there for him! I'm supposed to save him, that's what I told him! I'm supposed to," I took in a deep breath, unable to say anything more as my cries turned silent.

"Sasuke," his voice was soft. "You did everything you are able to do. You know why you can't be the one in there and he knows that too. He knows that you want to be there in that room with him. But I bet he'd want you to be with Yukio, to make sure he's not alone. I bet he even asked you to save him over himself, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did." I laughed a little.

"Remember, he did that with the twins too. That's just how he is. Now, pull yourself together for his sake and go visit Yukio. He's going to be just fine, Sasuke. I'll let everyone know what's going on. Call me when you can for an update." He hung up without saying goodbye.

I stood up from the ground and put my phone away before making my way to the newborn center.

Through the window, I saw Yukio was being set up by the nurse who took him away earlier.

After getting sterilized in the next room, I walked into the newborn center and made my way to him.

"Congratulations, Sasuke." The nurse was Tenten, Neji's fiancee.

"Thank you." I nodded once at her and she left with a quick bow.

"Hi Yukio," I cooed at him. "It's your Daddy." He squirmed in his blanket. "We've been waiting for you for a long time. Me, your older brother Tama, your older sister Suki and your Pa-" A sob escaped my mouth at the thought of not having Naruto by my side. I felt a tear escape my eye and I dropped to the ground, on my knees. "Oh god."

"Sasuke?" I turned to see Tenten at the entrance. "Hinata wants to see you, she's out in the hall."

I felt my stomach drop and had to suppress the urge to throw up. I stood up on shaky legs and headed out the door.

I saw Hinata in the hallway and the dread of hearing what she had washed over me. As I approached her, she looked up from her phone and gave me a small smile. A feeling of hope overcame me and I quickened my pace.

"Sasuke, good news, Naruto is just fine."

"Thank god." I breathed out. "When can I see him?"

"Follow me." She gestured with her head and began walking down the hallway. "Now, he lost a lot of blood, but luckily we were able to do a successful transfusion so he should be feeling normal again with some much needed rest."

I nodded at her words. "Alright."

"And, here he is." She stopped in front of an open door and I peeked in to see Naruto staring up at the TV that was playing a random cartoon.

"Dobe." I walked into the room, a smirk on my face.

He looked over at me and gave me that wide, toothy grin that I fell in love with all those years ago. "Teme!" He let out a laugh as I sat at the edge of the bed. "Looks like I'm back here once again."

I nodded, not saying anything, instead watching him carefully. He scrunched up his nose after sometime and gave me a pout.

"What are you staring at?"

"I'm just so happy that you're here, alive and well."

He blushed cutely and turned his head. "I'm glad too."

"You really scared me Naruto." I admitted to him, lifting my arm up, I gently ran my thumb over his cheek. He leaned into my touch and gently kissed my fingertips.

"I'm so sorry. But you know I could never leave you alone. Especially raising our kids." He laughed as I glared at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "With your influence they'd all be stiff and boring. I bring the spice they need in their life."

It was my turn to roll my eyes as he gave me a smug grin. "Yeah right, without me there, they'd have broke their necks by now trying to keep up with you."

"Knock knock!" We turned to see Kakashi standing in the doorway, grin on his face. "We all came to see the new baby!"

Just as he took a step into the room, Tama and Suki came running in. "Daddy! Papa!"

"Naruto!" Iruka came running in next, fussing over him while the twins giggled. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Me too!"

"Alright everyone, who wants to meet Yukio?"

"You guys want to meet your baby brother?" I looked at the twins and they both nodded excitedly.

Hinata brought over Yukio and immediately placed him in Naruto's arms.

All of us watched him, and he smiled at us.

"Look, look!" Tama pointed out. "He's smiling!"

We all laughed at Tama's eagerness.

"We sure do make perfect kids, huh Sasuke?" Naruto smiled at me.

"We sure do Naruto, we sure do.


End file.
